This Is How To Prioritize A Daily To-Do List.
When Too Many To Do’s Are Overwhelming You
Two weeks ago, I published a story about scheduling a busy day. See that piece here:
In that article, I talk about the three steps that I use to plan a day:
- make a to-do list,
- figure out how long each to-do will take, and
- figure out when I will do each thing.
I also talked about how I like to plan each day once I wake up.
Today is a little different. I have returned from a 2 week trip. It was magical. But now my head is spinning with all the things I need to do. Two weeks of loose ends are flying all around me.
I need to plan out Monday. So that I won’t spend the whole weekend with it hanging over me. Filling me with dread about how far behind I have become in my 2 weeks off.
Also, it is unlikely that I will be able to fit all my to-do’s into one day. There are too many things. I am going to need to prioritize.
I am exhausted this time, too. Jet lag and 2 weeks of long days, late nights, and lack of routine make me want to drop the kids off at camp on Monday and go back to bed for the day.
But if I don’t optimize my time on Monday, I will never catch up. Then the overwhelm will truly overtake me. So I need to make a plan. Then, all I have to do on Monday is follow along with the schedule I set out. I don’t have to waste extra brain space on what is important, or when I have to do it.
I can just execute.
Start with the non-negotiables.
On Monday, I have to pick up my kids at 3pm. I have a conference call with one client at 10am, and another client at 2pm. The 2pm should be quick, but I remind myself that I have a “hard stop” at 2:45pm for that camp pickup.
So already, my day has some form to it. I have 2 hours before the 10am call, and then 3 hours afterward. Plus, I knew Monday would be a busy catch-up day, so I have a babysitter coming from 4–6pm. That actually gives me a lot of time — 7 hours.
Phew.
Write down everything in my head, in any random order.
I can’t be perfectionist about the list. I need to write whatever comes out.
Yoga, writing, grocery store. Read through at least 30 emails that I previewed on vacation but didn’t think were critical. I have two new work projects that came in while I was away. I need to read through the background on each of them and determine what needs to be done. I realize that the deadline for each of these is not for at least a week or two. So today’s goal is to spend time understanding the projects. My to-do for each of these today is to make a to-do list for project completion down the line.
I need to eat lunch. And after the glorious indulgence of Italy, I need to make time to make a healthy lunch. I need to include that in the day. I write down — make a salad and chicken. That will need to come after the grocery store. But one thing at a time.
In total, here is what my list looks like:
The list needs to be very specific.
I don’t write down “start work project” because what does that mean? How can I determine how long that will take? Instead, I write that I will create a to-do list for a given project, or exactly what I want to make for lunch.
This is also not a goals list. Yes, I do want to write a book. But writing a book has no place on a daily to-do list. Today, I want to write 2 pages of that book.
Everything that I want to do today goes on the list. Even showering. Because that takes time too. But it needs to happen.
Also, when I’m first creating the list, I don’t force myself to put everything in order or group everything. Kids pickup and work projects come one after the other. The key is to get it all down. Figuring out the order of events comes later.
Then, I write down how long each thing will take. On the list. Next to each task. When I do the math on my list, it looks like I have about 12 hours of tasks on my list. But only 7 hours during the work day to accomplish them.
I realize that I do, in fact, have more things I need to do today than I have time to do them.
If you have too much for one day, prioritize.
What things can wait?
I look at my materials and realize that Project A has a later deadline than Project B. So, Project A can wait another day.
I will get up early and do yoga at 6a, before the day begins. I suspected that I would do this anyway. But with the residual jet lag, had hoped that I could have one more day to sleep in.
I will ask my babysitter to come an hour early to walk our dog. She has done this in the past so I suspect this won’t be an issue.
But still, I am only down to 9 hours of work in a 7 hour day.
So, I keep going.
Instacart for grocery delivery. I don’t love doing this — its more expensive and they don’t give me exactly what I want all the time. But, I’m prioritizing. Its more important to get the groceries than for me to do it myself.
And finally, finishing up my Medium piece after 8pm, when the kids are in bed. Also not ideal given my jet lag situation, but it should take me less than an hour and I can still have an early bedtime.
So in the end, my list looks like this:
From here, I schedule exactly when I do everything over the day.
If there is interest, that will be the topic of my next article — how to schedule daily tasks.
Its funny. Even writing a story about my to-do list without doing the scheduling piece is making me a little twitchy. The scheduling is magic for me. But getting it all down and prioritizing — knowing that I can get enough of the important things done Monday — is an enormous anxiety reliever as well. And I also have a head start on my to-do list for Tuesday.
Once I schedule out all the tasks for Monday, I can focus on my weekend. On laundry and time with the kids. Sorting through the mail. Catching up on sleep. All the activities of settling back in to life. So that when Monday comes, I know exactly what to do and when to do it.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 348,974+ people.
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