To-Do lists are great. I just love the fact that you can put stuff on them, cross them off again and feel super awesome about it! It makes me feel like I have accomplished something! But even better than that is the fact that it gives you some kind of structure and overview over your tasks at hand. But for a lot of people their to-do list becomes their biggest obstacle. You have to keep them balanced! Once I realized that, I started to plan my working schedule one day in advance. Every evening I sat down on my table and write everything down I want to achieve the following day. This become my new routine.
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Pointers To Create A Great To-Do List
This is just a short checklist on how to make effective to-do lists and working schedules, but also keep your life balance.
1. Make them short.
Don’t put too much tasks on your to-do lists since you might get the feeling of being overwhelmed and all the positive benefits gets lost. Focus on the points that will support you the most and give you the best outcome. Therefore you always make sure to get ahead in life. Drop and say no to useless distractions (this is also crucial). Pick a MAXIMUM of 3 important tasks you want to have accomplished per day and commit to them.
2. When you do something, do it fully.
This is very important for you if you have trouble doing the stuff which might HAVE to be done, but which is not as pleasant as you wish it to be. Make yourself conscious that whenever you do something while being in a negative state you are not only resisting it (and we know that whatever you resist persists), but you are also creating toxic thoughts in your mind. Realize that you have always the choice and whenever you do something with resentment you are letting this feeling dominate the current moment of YOUR life.
3. Create a long-term perspective for yourself.
The things worth getting in life are NEVER coming easy and definitely not over night. Get yourself some autobiographies of famous, rich and successful people or watch interviews about their lives on the internet. You will always find that there is a HUGE amount of struggle in their pursuit of their goals. And only because they have been persistent and constantly moving towards their goals they could achieve them. Whatever you want to achieve in life, however big your goal may be, it can always be split in smaller sub-goals. Whenever you find yourself in a spot where you cannot make yourself do something because you feel paralyzed by the fact that it is just too much, chunk it down to smaller tasks.
How do you feel when I tell you that reaching your goal might take 10 years of constant, daily action towards it? Really think about it. Depending on your reaction you see for yourself how much of a long-term perspective you have cultivated for yourself. What is the smallest step you can put on your to-do list to get just one step closer to your goals?
4. Plan some “happy time”.
You always need balance in your life. Think about that when creating your to-do list. If you just work your ass off you will (maybe) get to your goal faster, but you might as well be a total wreck and you won’t be able to enjoy the fulfillment reaching this goal gives you. I usually “celebrate” each day by also putting something on the list that I really love to spend time on. This is like my personal gift to myself for doing all the stuff I planned for today in the best possible way.It is like a personal appreciation and it is necessary for everybody of us, since otherwise we might not be able to stick in it for the long run.
Want more? Put more valuable information into your brain. I recommend you grabbing some of these books!
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
- Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One
