As we said in this article, the to-do list is a list of tasks you need to complete or things that you want to do. Most typically, they’re organized in order of priority.
Meet Emma, one of our users, who is a planner and always completes her to-do list daily.
We asked her about some of her habits. Stay with us and read her responses. Hope they will be useful to you.
Hello Emma. Thank you for joining us. Could you please tell us more about yourself?
Hi. Thank you for having me. I’m Emma and I’m 23. I’m a student at university and I work at the same time. Most days, I’m too busy. Today want to talk about my experiences and habits in planning.
At first, I didn’t write my tasks and just had them in my mind. You know, the night before I just thought about them in my bed. But at the end of the day, I had a few tasks that I forgot to do.
So, on my friend’s advice, I started to just write my work on a planner. It is better. Because now I’m sure that I can arrange lots of my tasks.
Great. So, how do you organize your to-do list?
As a matter of fact, at first, I really didn’t know how I should write it. I wrote anything that came to my mind and that I thought I should have done.
But I found out I made a mistake. So, I started to search on the internet and ask my friends.
Now, this is how I plan:
Of course, I have short-term and long-term programs. My long-term plan is for every year and month. Let me explain it better.
At the beginning of the New Year, I write all my plans and goals that I want to achieve. I try to write them in detail.
And I do this each month too. One tip I should say about the goals is that you had better write a few numbers that you can reach. Writing for a lot of purposes is high flying.
About my short-term plan, every day (better to do every night before going to bed), I write every task that I have to accomplish on that day.
It’s better to prioritize them. Cause you attend which ones are important, and you should do them first.
In the end, tick anything you accomplished. (I love this part.)
How do you know how many tasks you should write to be sure to handle them?
You know, it depends on my day. I try to write not too many tasks that I know I can’t do. Because sometimes there are some emergency works that you have to do immediately.
Don’t be a perfectionist, please! The better you know yourself, the better you can achieve it.
How do you feel when you have a lot of unticked tasks at the end of the day?
Definitely, I became disappointed. But I try to divide them into my weekdays or weekends.
As the last word, do you have any tips to add?
Yes. First of all, don’t be hard on yourself. There are some days when you don’t want to do anything. That’s alright and normal. It happens to everyone.
Second, the best to-do list is a flexible one. You can add and remove some tasks based on the situation.
Third, I’m always remembering a quote from my mom that she read in a book. It says, “Swallow your frog first!”
The story is this; imagine you are at a party with a lot of delicious food. But there’s a frog you must eat and it’s so horrible.
You have only 2 choices. First, eat the delicious food, then the horrible frog, or eat the frog first. In fact, the best choice is number 2. When you eat it first, then you can get delicious food comfortably without any worry.
So, swallowing your frog first refers to doing the hardest task first and then going through others.
How wonderful tips! Thank you for coming, Emma. It was a great interview, and you mentioned a lot of good points.
That’s very kind of you. I hope they can help you.