How many to-do lists have you made within the past week? A majority of us have made at least one if not multiple lists. Of these lists, how many tasks have been completed? You have most likely checked off the obvious, easy tasks that take no time to complete and have left the bigger, uglier tasks for another day.
To-Do Lists Don’t Work by Daniel Markovitz offers some reasons why our to-do lists become ineffective:
- Too many choices
- Varied difficulty
- Varied priorities
- Lack of framework
- Lack of commitment tools
Instead of writing a useless to-do list, Markovitz suggests taking each individual task and putting them in your calendar allowing you to estimate how much time it will take to complete each task. Markovitz says deciding which task to tackle when allows you to overcome the five reasons mentioned above. In addition to overcoming these obstacles, putting tasks in your calendar allows you to better determine whether or not you have the capacity to take on a new project.
Do you find yourself more productive using calendar tasks versus to-do lists? Let us know how you stay organized and own your time in the comments section below.
