How to make an Efficient To Do List that is Easy to Execute | Productivity Hack

Making a To Do List was never a challenge to me but to execute it. Ugh! I could never do that. How to make a list which I can easily execute? I found an answer to that.

Hello Guys.Welcome back to my this week's blog.For those of you who don't know me, I am Sanpreet Kaur, Final Year MBBS Student in Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana.

We always keep thinking about all the things we have to do in a day and things that are urgent and pending. Maybe we have even jotted that down on a paper. But the question is how much were we able to follow what we decided?

Everyone must be knowing how important it is to make a To Do List. A popular phrase goes like,
"If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail."
Well no one can argue with that. If you cannot plan properly you don't deserve to be the winner.
Failing to make a To Do List puts an undue load on your brain as if you are carrying a 100 pounds load up there which is constantly weighing you down making us more depressed and stressed.
But guess what? More depressing than that is to make a To Do List but failing to execute and it hurts like anything leaving you full of guilt and resentment at night.

But where all things go wrong? You made it since you were motivated enough to complete your work, then why did you fail to execute? Well Let me tell you something.
"It is not in why you can't do it but how you thought you will do it."



Most common reason for failing to obey and following our to do list is 'Overt Expectations' which we keep of ourselves to follow that rule.We aren't robots! Right? Lists are not made to control us but rather help us complete our work with full freedom and independence.

Now the question is:
"But then how to make such kind of list which I can actually follow?"

Well,  I am here to answer that.
Before knowing how to make a list we need to know certain prerequisites before you start making one.
Let's know what are those.

1. When to make a To Do List?

• Before starting to make a To Do List you need to know when to make one.
• Make it a night before and stick it onto your study table or in your room or wherever you can see it easily.

Let me tell you why this is so important:

• It will make your subconscious mind aware of the fact that what things need to be done.
• When you will get up in the morning the next day, you will be already ready to start off your work without PROCRASTINATING and without delaying things unnecessarily
• It will boost up your productivity levels  and there will be more time in your hands to complete the work since your mind will be free of any other thoughts of thinking about the things that need to be done.

2.Where to write a To Do  List

• You can keep a diary to keep all your To Do lists at one place or if you are more of a tech kind of person you can even use various apps to keep your To Do lists or even a simple NOTES app would work really well.
• Keeping all the To Do lists at one place will help you to keep a track of all your lists and helps you know your progress.
• You will know what has been missed in previous To Do Lists and what is still left to be completed.
• Always make a green tick at all times you obeyed your To Do list and completed all the work.
• The work you have completed and all the times you have obeyed your To Do lists will boost your confidence and will motivate you to do better.

3. What to include in a To Do list?

• The most important thing is to draft all the necessary work that needs to be done the next day whether it is your study, workout, meditation, helping your mom in kitchen or writing a blog. Make a draft of it.
• Select a Daily Highlight of the day
• A daily highlight is the most important and exciting part of the day which needs to be completed as the first thing in the morning.

NOW LET'S COME TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PART HOW TO MAKE A TO DO LIST FOR YOURSELF
Step 1: 

Make a square and divide it into four squares like in the picture and label it as urgent, not urgent, important and not important.



• Filter out all the drafted things that you made before onto this list and give appropriate position to every work.
• Even if it is Social Media you gonna use next day, give it a place (It better be at not urgent and not important)



This technique is known as EISENHOWER MATRIX TECHNIQUE and is known to boost productivity levels tremendously.

Step 2: 

• Note down the things in column of Urgent and Important and fit it into Pomodoro Technique.
• If you don't know what is that , you will get to know it now.
• Set your timing and do your first session of work within 25 mins. (Not more than that)
• Take a 5 min. break in which you can go and take a walk, make a coffee for yourself, watch a 5 min. video, go to washroom or anything.
• Repeat this session for 4 to 5 cycles
• After that take a big 25 to 30 minutes break.

This technique is scientifically proven to avoid procrastination and get your things done at time with full focus.

4.Importance of Breaks

• Never underestimate the breaks you have.
• Being over-enthusiastic and not taking breaks since you have so much piled up in the list will do more harm than good.
• Research has shown that taking breaks and taking time out to rest actually increases the quality and quantity of work that is done rather than stealing away your productive time.
• Keep a 5 min or 35 min. break according to the cycle you are on and mean it.
• Give yourself Rewards every time you take a break.

For those of you who have read my last blog, I have clearly mentioned how important it is to give yourself Rewards.

5. Upon completing your To Do List
If you have successfully completed your To Do List , Congratulate yourself and put  a green tick in front of that list in your diary.

• Motivate yourself to be persistent and discipline.
• Self appreciation is the best thing you can ever do to yourself.

So that's all I have in my list of how to make a To Do list. You just need to make an Eisenhower matrix and fit it into Pomodoro Technique with appropriate breaks in between each and BOOM you are being 90% more productive than usual days.

Let me know in the comments section any other strategies which you sue to compete your tasks well on time and I would love to share that in my next blog.
Share this blog with your friends if you found this useful. Let's all be Productive and uplift each other.

Happy Learning!