07 March 2016

To Do Lists?

How do you structure your To-Do lists.

Do you organise them by category?

Or do you organise them by when they have to be done by?

Or is there some other way?

Please share your ideas in the comments. Thank you

22 comments:

  1. I have two todo lists, one for work, one private.
    Otherwise I do not categorize any further. What comes into my mind goes on either.
    I might priorize at some point by colouring some tasks.

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  2. Work tasks - no structure. Home - my weekly tasks are divided into three sections: home office, volunteer work, and around the house.

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  3. My work to-do list is sorted into categories depending on how long each task is likely to take. So I have short, medium and long with columns for admin (as opposed to client work) and pending (where I note things I'm waiting on other people for).

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    1. Cool! Nederland thought about sorting my to do's by how long they Will take. Great idea!!!

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    2. Cool! Nederland thought about sorting my to do's by how long they Will take. Great idea!!!

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  4. My task list just goes together as a bullet journal for the week. If I am feeling overwhelmed by what is on there I break it down into what to do today tomorrow etc. Often they don't have deadlines...well not ones that are overly imminent. If there is say something due for a day I write the day first then what the task is. Sometimes if I migrate tasks from a week I'll group them together if they are relevant...like blog stuff etc.

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  5. Categorized, and if it's a long term list or future list, it goes in my bullet journal. Though my work tasks are on a steno pad that doesn't leave my desk.

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  6. I organize them per month. I have a list before and after each month which is separated by dividers. That way I can look ahead and back and pull forward what isn't finished. I have a separate planner for household projects.

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  7. I use a pocket Malden for my wallet and future planning only, but my daily pages go into a notebook - bullet journal style. I keep a Master Task Log where everything that comes to mind I have to do gets logged. That list gets referred to weekly. If there's something I want to slot in and get done for that week then it becomes part of that day's daily page in my bullet journal, then put a migration arrow with the date I assigned it to be done next to it on the Master Task Log. On my daily page, personal and household tasks are written in black, ones for my bookkeeping business I use the metallic Pilot G2 pink pen as I need my business ones to stand out

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  8. I am using a Filofax pocket binder in addition to my Franklin pocket one. Since my week insert that I designed does not fit in the Filofax one I will place it in a folder. With my Franklin hole punch I can punch Filofax pocket pages and place the sheets in the Franklin binder. I punch three holes at one time. I write some lists and projects in the Filofax binder and can place those pages in the Franklin one. I am using the Filofax pocket one for some occasions that require a smaller binder.

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  9. I have several to do lists: daily, weekly and 'else'. Daily to do list is in the planner part, for the daily stuff I've got a plain paper if there are a lot of things to do. When there are few, I only write it on post-it papers and it goes on the ruler. The 'else' list is a random to do list: monthly things, others, not necessary things, etc and it's in the 'me' section of the filofax (among things that are important for me)

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  10. I'm all about the Franklin Covey Progressive Task List, myself.

    Question: I have a Filofax Mini Cross, same blue as what you see atop the page. The leather has yellowed a bit with age. Is there anything to be done about that? Also, the paint is flaking off my other Mini. Again, can something be done about this? Thanks.

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  11. Well... I have weekly ToDos list for work in my agenda/work planner, which includes all kind of tasks, billable and not billable.
    For personal and Home task I have a bullet list on the dashboard of my personal organizer.
    Thus I think I organize them by subject, also becouse the work billable ones are usually the most urgent and have to be addressed in that frametime. If not, I report the undone tasks on the next week.

    I usually do not consider appointments or other tasks to be addressed in an established date as a "ToDo" things! They are noted on the due date in the agenda.

    Nor the daily routine stuff (e.g. Grocery, laundry, meds, etc... but also reading newspaper, clean the cat litter...). I keep those things in my montly tracker in my bullet journal.

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  12. At work my priorities are constantly changed by others, sometimes in mid-stream of working on an account. By using the Microsoft Sticky Notes, I can shuffle work topics around and keep track of what needs to be done to finish the assigned work on a specific account.

    For personal use, since 1/1/16 I have been using a pocket Chameleon Filo to do a daily bullet list, capturing thoughts as they floats to the top of my consciousness and noting interesting and/or important things that happen during the day.

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  13. They tend to be in order of when I think of them when I'm writing a big to do list but in my planner it's just a case of when I realistically think I can complete them... same for at work.

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    1. I've been working like that for a long time but it doesn't really work for me :-s now i am going to try the method that SharonM talked about in the beginning of this conversation. Sorting by how long they will take

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  14. Categorized! I have a letter size paper divided into 3 columns on each side. Personal, Work (Teacher), School (Masters), Work 2 (Tutoring), Volunteer Organization, Volunteer Certification Course

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  15. This is so interesting to see how people manage their to-do lists! Goes to show what works for someone might be different from what works for someone else.

    I have separate work vs personal to-do lists. Normally I have all my tasks on my weekly pages (week + notes format). A couple of months ago I changed my method a bit, and put non-urgent tasks in a tabbed section and only my week's must-dos on the weekly pages. Well, I have discovered that the tasks behind a tab languish indefinitely. So I'm going back to putting them all on my weekly pages, and using priority indicators like * to designate urgency. This ends up causing me to re-write some tasks week to week, but this is good because it makes me evaluate what is important, and to finally do the actions that I don't want to re-write again!

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  16. I organise mine by context, e.g. errands, home, computer etc. To help me focus, I also create a list of my three most important tasks for the day.

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  17. I use a single Post-It Note for my to-do list, which I keep in my week-to-a-page diary insert in my personal sized Filofax. I use the ruler/today marker to open up the diary at the current date to see appointments and have the Post-It Note on the non-current week, moving it when necessary.

    Appointments are written in pencil in the diary but all to-do things are written on the Post-It Note. Once an item is completed it's crossed out. When the Post-It Note is full it is replaced with a new one and any remaining outstanding items are transferred to a new Post-It Note. Urgent tasks are marked with an asterisk.

    If one task has many sub tasks then I may use a second Post-It Note for that particular task.

    Fortunately I have small hand writing.

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    1. Thanks Robert. I like that simple idea. I've been using a small notebook I carry around in my work bag rather than my filofax, but this is a good way of combining the 2.

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