In the 3^rd and last part of our series on professional time management, we’re going to expand our collection of guidelines on list-building to ensure that you will be able to maximize the benefits of this “life hack” technique.

The Best Practices in Creating To-Do Lists

1. Keep It Short & Sweet – I understand that many of you have a lot on their plate and initially, your to-do lists will be long and complex.

However, as you continue refining your grasp of prioritizing tasks and delegating work to others, you will soon discover that life (like your to-do list) can be so much simpler.

Strive to make your main to-do list, day list and future list short and concise. If your to-do lists become too detailed, you may feel demotivated to accomplish each of the items.

How many items should be in your to-do lists?

As a rule of thumb, I often limit my total to-do items to 20 items. If I have to add one more to this list, I often check off 5 or more to get ahead.

Again, listing down things won’t make you a good time manager. The list is the tool that will help you manage your time more efficiently. However, if you end up procrastinating or abandoning your to-do lists, then they won’t be any help at all.

2. Don’t Add Commonplace Activities – A to-do list is actually a way to manage your time when additional activities begin to pile up.

What shouldn’t you put in your to-do lists?

With this in mind, you don’t have to add things like “have breakfast” or “drive to work” on your to-do lists. You already know for sure that you’re going to perform these tasks, so it is actually counterproductive to list them as “to do” items.

Instead of adding activities and events that are bound to happen because they always do, focus on upcoming tasks that require more time than your usual tasks, like going to the dentists or getting an appointment somewhere.

3. Hammer the Hard Tasks First – There was a time when I focused too much on the easy tasks that I had little or no time left for the more difficult ones. It was very challenging to get back on track because the items left on my to-do list were all difficult and time-consuming.

You can avoid this scenario completely by balancing tough tasks and easy tasks. The first thing that you should try to accomplish in your day should a difficult or time-consuming task.

 Keep working on a difficult task until you’ve finished it or you finished at least 50% of the work needed to complete it.

Don’t start on a task only to leave it a few minutes later because it’s difficult. The difficulty level of a task is a big determinant of how much time you should spend working on it. As a task’s difficulty increases, so does the time you need to accomplish it.

4.Be Flexible and Adaptable – Flexibility is the most important trait that you can develop when you are managing your time. If you are inflexible with your own schedule, you may feel overwhelmed and frustrated at all the important things that you have yet to accomplish.

I know that I just asked you to perform at least one difficult task per day, but you must apply this guideline only when you’re prepared for the work ahead.

You know yourself better than anyone else on the planet so be mindful of how you feel and what you’re thinking when you’re planning the days ahead.

5. Work With Your Organic Schedule – Each person’s organic or natural working schedule is unique. Some individuals feel pumped up to work right after lunch time. People like me work better in the hours that lead to midnight. And still some individuals are more efficient workers when they set out to do their tasks after having breakfast.

If you are extremely productive in the evening, schedule your most difficult tasks in a way that they coincide with your “wave of productivity”.

Easier tasks should be reserved for those times of the day when your energy is a little low and you can only handle smaller tasks.

Of course, some people don’t have the option to move their work around. You can remedy this problem by putting “rest gaps” in between difficult tasks so you have a recovery period. This will ensure that you will not be overwhelmed with more difficult tasks even if you’re not mentally conditioned to do them at a particular time.

Another Resource I`d like to share with you is “The 12 Week Year” by Brian P Moran and Michael Lennington, New York Times Bestseller.

In the second part of our series, I’m going to teach you a time-tested method of creating beautiful order in an otherwise chaotic world.

This method is so simple, absolutely anyone can start using it today.

What is this excellent time management tool?

The technique I’m talking about is list-making and its simplicity is actually the basis of its power as a time management tool. People who are already strapped for time need techniques that are easy to implement. Nothing is simpler and easier than building to-do lists!

Simple Guidelines for Maximum Results

 Below are some pro tips for building accomplishable and realistic to-do lists:

1. Create the Right To-Do Lists – There are three kinds of to-do lists that you can create depending on what you have to accomplish. Your main to-do list is contains all of the things that you have to accomplish in the short-term and long-term.

You can list as many things as you want in your main to-do list as this will be used as a resource for the two other lists I’m going to mention in a moment. The second to-do list is your day list.

The day list contains all the items that need to be given attention today.

All of the most urgent items in your main to-do list should be put in your day list, especially deadlines and stuff that you weren’t able to accomplish in the past.

The third and final list is the future list. The future list should contain the things you have to accomplish in the following weeks or months. If something needs to be accomplished 2 weeks from now, write it down in your future list so you won’t clutter your day list.

2. Prioritize Tasks with a Main To-Do List – Priority-setting is your primary goal in creating different lists.

Your main to-do list was designed to be a general list so you can assign items to their proper sub-lists. You will also be able to write down the time and date for each of the items before transferring them to your day list and future list.

It would also help if you marked certain tasks with E1 or E2. E1 means “super easy! – will not take more than 10 minutes” while E2 stands for “enjoyable task!”. You can create more notations if you want, if they will help you stay motivated in accomplishing your tasks.

3. Use the Future List Wisely – Writing a future list is a way to accommodate less urgent tasks so you won’t forget to do them. There are also some tasks that don’t have to be accomplished today. If you’re already budgeting your time, there’s no need to add more tasks in your day list.

However, I would warn against using this list for procrastination. Having a long future list doesn’t mean you’re getting organized or you’re managing your time well. It just means you have a list of tasks. It’s what you do after making your to-do lists that truly matter.

Where can you create your lists?

If you’re a little old-fashioned like me, you may prefer to physically write down your to-do items on a journal.

If you’re planning to write things down on paper, I suggest that you use a monthly planner as an extension of your future list to stay organized. It can be difficult to keep track of items on your future list if you can’t see the days or weeks that lead up to each deadline.

Now, I also know that not everyone likes keeping journals and notebooks around.

If you have a smart phone or tablet, you can download organization apps like Any.Do, Clear and other to-do list programs on iTunes or Google Play. There are also other app centers available on the Internet such as the Opera Mobile Market which you can explore.

A good to-do app should allow you to make an unlimited number of to-do items complete with sub-lists. You should also be able to add a time and date for each item that you need to complete.

Some apps allow task sharing through email and through an in-app messaging system, but these aren’t as essential as the first set of features I mentioned.

If you don’t want to download another app, check out your current calendar app to see if it has a list feature… and continue to pursue to be an expert in ‘Expert Time Management Simplified’.

Among the top reasons why people are chronically stressed is having too little time for everything that needs to be done in a day. In a previous blog post, we touched upon the reality of the overworked adult in America.

Overwork is often the result of poor time management because let’s face it: things can get out of hand very quickly if you don’t know how you’re actually spending your time.

Our newest blog series will cover the best practices in time management so you can start maximizing all available hours in your working day. What are the best ways to manage your time?

1. Discover Where Your Time Goes – The first step in effective time management is knowing how you are actually spending your time every single day.

In order to accomplish this, you have to start recording your activities from the moment you wake up until bedtime. Do this for at least 2 weeks so you can see the average trend for different activities.

Sometimes, people become more efficient with how they use their time when they are logging their activities. You must not be too self-conscious during the observation period so you can get a realistic tally of how you are spending your time on a regular day.

In addition to recording your activities and the average amount of time spent for each activity, I want you to rate each activity from 1-4, with 1 being “waste of my time” and 5 being “excellent use of my time”. 2’s and 3’s are “a little time consuming” and “good use of my time”, respectively.

You will soon see a detailed picture of your actual use of time as you continue journaling and recording your daily activities. The information that you will get from this exercise will help guide future time management efforts.

2. Start Transforming Your Activities – Poor time management is often the result of having too many unnecessary activities throughout the day. Some of these activities, such as watching TV, may not exactly be completely harmful if you can learn how to control how much time you devote to them.

However, if you are constantly missing deadlines and you’re extremely stressed about not having sufficient time for all the things that you want to do, then there’s definitely something wrong with your selection of activities.

Transforming your daily activities is actually quite simple. First, you need to write down all the things that you need additional time for.

Don’t hold back when making this list – write down anything that comes to mind.

>>> My first list actually looked something like this:

– Rediscover spirituality

– Learn how to meditate

– Read more

– Spend more time getting out into nature

My list may look silly to some of you… 

but it is a genuine list that I made a few years ago when I was becoming severely burned out by my work. I was successful in turning things around by identifying the activities that consumed too much time in my day.

Eventually, I was able to make time for all of the things in my initial list – and even more!

I can confidently say that you can replicate my results by simply being mindful of all your activities and by asking yourself if you really need to spend time on the activity at all.

Common distractions can easily be removed from your list of routines if you choose to be more mindful of where your time is actually going.

Sure, you may be spending 8 to 10 hours per day in the office. However, if you’re barely coping with the workload, it’s possible that you’re not making wise use of your available time.

3. Change How You Do Things –

If your days are filled with activities that are essential to your work or family life but you’re still falling behind, you need to change how you do things.

Changing your approach to accomplishing your obligations and responsibilities can help you reduce the time needed to accomplish each task, which will effectively give you more time for additional activities or even leisure.

Here’s a good example – how many times do you check your email every day? I’ve met someone who admitted that he checks his email every hour.

Now assuming that it takes about 10 minutes to open your email and scroll through messages, that’s already 60 minutes gone in a day after the sixth visit to the inbox.

This trend can be remedied by limiting the checking of emails to once or twice a day. Urgent emails may be answered but on an average day, a person shouldn’t be preoccupied with checking his email.  (See the next part soon)