For me, having a plan has always helped, and every good plan comes with a list. A to-do list of things you hope to accomplish, or a list of work that needs to get done.

There is a right way and a wrong way to make a to-do list according to Forbes. They will tell you that a big mistake is making the list of poor quality. Afterall, if you get everything done, even if menial, you have accomplished something. Many times the harder chores are at the bottom of the list and we add things to the top just to avoid that longer and longer. Forbes’s suggestion is to find a way to eliminate many of the little tasks by combining them. When that happens, a person will feel more accomplished and will ultimately become more successful over time when it comes to completing tasks.

Another problem is the list is torturous. That means the list is long and mostly never ends and we become stressed in life and believe we are not accomplishing anything. Focus on the task at hand and quit all the worrying about the end result of accomplishment. By doing this, the probability is higher that the tasks will get done, and you will be more productive when completing the tasks.

I searched around for secrets to creating a successful list and didn’t find anything very concrete. Forbes suggest to keep the list small with maybe no more than three things on it. Do a “mind dump” and write down everything you need to do to clear your head but don’t create the list just yet. Now divide them into separate lists that may be done by days of the week to keep from overwhelming yourself. One thing to remember is to also create a schedule of when things are due in order to make your to-do include items in order of the highest priority level to the lowest.

Another idea is to make the list just prior to when you plan to work on it. Maybe just the night before. Then when you get up and are ready the items are fresh in your mind and you have a plan to get things done. Then you can spend your time getting the tasks done instead of wasting time and energy of thinking about what tasks need to be completed.

The first thing you should do in the morning is to tackle the first item on your list. The morning is the time of the day when you are the most fresh, so having a harder task at the top of your list is a benefit not only to you, but also to the item that you need to accomplish.

Ok, that about covers it. Now I am going to make a to-do blog list of upcoming blogs.

I might wait until tomorrow. Ah, procrastination might be good topic.