To-do lists can actually harm productivity but as always it is your decision when you are building a day that works for you.

If you write a to-do list every day and still find yourself unable to complete everything, see if one of these below can help OR just don’t have a to-do list. To-do lists actually can hurt productivity for some people. When you don’t get to check something off, your brain does not get the dopamine rush and it actually damages your mood and motivation.

However, a lot of this depends on how you structure your list. So as always, remember you are building a day for YOU. So you have to gauge what works for you too. Here are a few ideas to get you started. 

To-do lists

1. Choose 3-4 key buckets every day. Let’s say meetings, focus work, and random to-dos. Limit yourself to a certain number of each task within each category! This was my method in college. I had a category for classes, AIESEC (my organization I was involved in), and life. Depending on my schedule and focus for that week, each category was allocated a maximum number of tasks. During midterms, for example, classes got 5 slots, AIESEC 3, and life 5. 

2. Timed to-do list. Split your list into morning, afternoon, and evening. If you are like me and get super tired after lunch, schedule the not so deep focus tasks then (emails, groceries, workouts, etc.). 

3. Visual progress to-do list. Think about Trello, Notion, and Todoist. Use this strategy if you prefer to physically move a task from to-do, doing, and done. Share this to-do list publicly to hold yourself accountable. 

4. Have a master and take it one task a time. Okay I am not the biggest of this strategy but it could help some of you. Every day starts with a daily list of all the tasks you want to accomplish. Then, take one task and write it on a post-it note on even make it your phone wallpaper (screenshot from notes). Once this task is complete, replace it with the next one. I don’t love this strategy because I think it allows for a lot of distraction and a sense of overwhelmingness. But if you can limit yourself to writing 10 tasks then this could work for you!

Harsha Helps Twist

1. Call your to-do list a priority list instead. Priority for the moment carries more importance in your brain than a task for this moment.

2. Time your to-do list. Once you have your to-do list, add time slots or input it into your calendar. Time blocking is the best way to dedicate time for each task and actually focus on it and get it done.

3. Keep it simple. Writing down “learn Spanish” is not going to help you throughout the day. Get specific. Get quantitative. And focus on all aspects of life. Example things I write:

   1. Walk for 1 hour.

   2. Drink 5 bottles of water. 

   3. Write 3 blogs.

   4. Take probiotics.

   5. Send x email to John. 

Summary

1. To-do lists can harm productivity if you do not complete tasks on the list.

2. Adding another metric to your to-do list can help you accomplish your task (time, quantified goal)

3. It is okay to not have a to-do list and rather just time block!