Are you looking to get more done? Do you have trouble planning your day? We’ve all had the realization that we could be more effective and increase our free time if only we could get ourselves organized. It can be hard work initially, but building good productivity habits will pay off in the long run. Getting started is as simple as finding the best to do list template for your needs.
Beginner’s Tip: Start with 3-5 tasks that you consider the most critical on any given day. If you have to drop everything except these 3-5 tasks, these are the ones you can’t. While it’s tempting to suggest that your ambitious goal of 15 things by the end of the day is why you can’t get anything done – it’s really that you’re not honing your focus on what’s most important today.
All things will be produced in superior quantity and quality, and with greater ease, when each man works at a single occupation, in accordance with his natural gifts, and at the right moment, without meddling with anything else.
Many varieties of to-do lists exist to help us. People use to-do lists regularly to accomplish a variety of tasks. A few of them include
Daily To Do List
Keeping it uncomplicated is often better when it comes to building a daily to-do list. A daily task list is perfect for just having a bit of a “brain dump” to sort out the day’s tasks, organized however you wish, to remember the items you need to accomplish that day.
Used for personal tasks, business tasks, or something else – when your brain feels less overwhelmed trying to remember them all, it can focus on the tasks themselves and get them checked off upon accomplishment!
This technique is suitable for everyone, from beginners to seasoned pros. It’s most beneficial to those who don’t need more detailed to-do lists and instead work best with their tasks organized in a simple, clean manner.
Weekly To Do List
Have you ever sat there on a Sunday evening, perhaps right before bed, and that recognizable sense of dread comes over you in anticipation of work the next day?
Anxiety is often the root of this, but there’s good news — taking the time to create a weekly to-do list will give you a specific place to get things written down and organized. Focusing on your main weekly objectives and the tasks that support them should give you a clear head so that you can enjoy your whole weekend without despair.
A weekly to-do list gives you a clear overview of your next seven days for a sense of anticipation at a glance. You can choose to write down everything you know you have to achieve that week or just your top priorities, and then as you progress through your week, you’ll have the satisfaction of checking off the boxes.
This is a great template to use for anyone, but if you’re in charge of a team or could use something like this to manage your work-life balance, this will help you get a handle on your week ahead for sure.
Project-Specific To Do List
Project managers usually have some digital project or task management tool that helps teams and companies keep track of project progress. But having a pen and paper to do list template is quite common as well.
Sitting down to plan tasks out before scheduling them in your PM tool helps you quickly reference the list and process at any time, without logging into your software.
A perfect example is when you’re on a call or meeting. Someone asks about a specific task or project – such as who is responsible for what, or what the progress is thus far, having a written to do list of assignments completed or yet to be completed will give you the chance to answer right away, with confidence!
Prioritization To Do List
Take your essential daily or weekly list one step further with a prioritization to-do list. This type of template helps to organize tasks based on priority, most of all. Use your essential list to “brain dump” and then use the prioritization method to take it one step further.
Here, the idea is that you add a priority level, so you know which need to tackle first based on importance. Some people might establish the priority level on deadline, whether it’s a requested task from a manager or executive, and even just whether there are dependencies — such as when you’re waiting on someone else to complete a process before you can achieve yours, for example.
Advanced To Do List
If you ever feel like there’s not enough space on your basic to-do list template, give the advanced layout a try. More space is allocated for extra details such as start and end dates, percentage completed, priority, delegation, or whatever suits your needs best.
While most project management tools cover these kinds of fields, with a paper version, you can have all the detail you need right there on your desk at a glance.
Why Use a Project Management Tool?
With people bombarding you with emails, Slack requests, and assigning work from tools that you don’t even use, one of the most challenging things about managing people and projects is organization.
So how do you consolidate all of these tasks into a single, digestible view so you can kick-off your workday productively? With your individual to-do list template full of tasks, you get to organize things once or twice a day and spend the rest of your time being productive. Grab that to-do list template that suits your needs, and get writing and checking things off! Before you know it, you’ll get into the habit simply because of the success you feel when you finish.
Profit.co’s task management module provides you with a platform to manage all of your tasks in one organized view. Businesses can create individual department and team Workspaces and Boards, and customize board views and status stages to create the best project flow for their specific team. Assign tasks, set deadlines, flag priorities and organize everything you need to succeed on one agile tool. To learn more about Profit.co’s tasks module, visit our product page, or book a demo with us today!