The Importance Of a To-Do List

A To-Do list is a list of important tasks that you will need to carry out within a given period of time. They are a crucial tool for those that want to be skilled at time management. The concept of a To-Do list is quite simple.

By having all of the things you need to do written down or placed into an electronic planner, it will become easier for you to remember the tasks that you need to carry out. Once you have written down tasks in a To-Do list, you will next want to prioritized the tasks based on their importance.

To-Do lists are important for people who have a large number of different things they need to get done. If you are the type of person who frequently forgets important things they need to do, then a To-Do list is something you won’t want to be without. Before you can successfully prioritize a To-Do list, you will first want to learn how to prepare one. The first thing you will want to do is either purchase a notepad, electronic planner, or any device that can allow you to list important tasks. Many cell phones may now give you this function as well. After you have the device that will help you record the tasks, you will next want to write them down.

If you have a large list of things you need to do, you will want to split them into parts. Continue to do this until you have completed the entire list. Once you have finished doing this, you will want to begin prioritizing each task based on their importance. You will want to go down the list and give each task a rating. How you rate it isn’t important, as long as it is something that makes sense to you. If you find that you have a large number of things which have a priority, you will want to begin deleting things off the list that are not important. Once you have finished doing this, you should have a list which will allow you to focus on the most important things.

According to the 80/20 principle, the most important things you will need to complete will take up 20% of the list. The other 80% is not as important, and will play a smaller role your in success or failure. Now that you have created a To-Do list, you will now need to learn how to use it. Each person who creates a To-Do list will use it in a different way. If you are working alone, you may want to create a short list of important things you can complete each day. If you have a very large list that contains tasks that will be completed by more than one person, it may take you more time to complete it.

In a situation like this, you may find that you are carrying tasks from one list to another. In fact, it may take you weeks to complete tasks which are not important. The only time that this should be an issue is if you have a deadline. If you don’t have a deadline, there should not be a problem. The only things that you should carry over from one To-Do list to another are things that don’t consist of the 20 percent of tasks which will play the largest role in your failure or success. When you create a To-Do list, there are some important things you will want to remember.

First, you will always want to make sure you complete the most important tasks. Complete the tasks which have the highest priority, and don’t place an emphasis on things that are not as important. It is also important to make sure you are never bogged down working on a bunch of tasks that are not crucial. Creating a To-Do list is very important if you a serious about properly managing your time. They allow you to see a completed list of all the things you need to do, and it allows you to focus on the things which are important. If you use a To-Do list in the proper way, you are following what is called the 80/20 principle, and if you do this consistently, you will begin to succeed.