To share a failsafe to-do list system with you all?

[PerfectParisian]

Was reading a book about dealing with stress (think it's called Stress Management for Dummies) and it had a really good tip for making to-do lists.

The book suggests using a notebook for to-do lists so you can keep them all accessible and in one place.

The idea is that you have two to-do lists: a 'master to-do list' and daily to-do lists.

With the (bloody brilliant!!) master to-do list, you record absolutely everything you need to do on there. I quite like prioritising my tasks to-do list from 1 to 4 ('cos I'm anal like that ), with 1 being urgent and important, 2 being urgent but not important, 3 is not urgent but important and 4 is not urgent and not important.

You then use the daily to-do lists to complete each task in priority order.

Isn't it a fab idea?

[Nonibaloni]

Yes, while basking in my pencil glory I've missed some delivery. Story of my life.

[blueshoes]

I watched the Bullet Journal video on the link below.

It looked complicated with handwritten notes and migrating tasks and lists, indexes, future logs, monthly logs and daily logs.

Does anyone ever do this? Looks like someone would spend more time making lists than actually doing the tasks on them.

I just use Outlook calendar. I have one list for Work and one list for Personal for the start of the week in a calendar entry called TODO. I tick items on the list off by typing DONE after I finish a task and add tasks as they come in during the week. Then the next week, I copy-and-paste into next week's TODO calendar entry, tidy up by deleting DONEs and that becomes my list for the week. Helps that I have a desk job but even if I was at home, I have my PC open on my kitchen table and add to and cross out items as I go along. I put alarms for almost everything. For example, if I send an email to X that I know X will probably need chasing and take a long time to get back, I put an alarm to follow up with X in a week, attaching that email. If I order from Amazon and the item will arrive by a certain date, I put an alarm for that date. All term dates and school dates also go into outlook with an alarm and reminder when I get the list.

Primitive but seems to work. Rarely drop the ball.

[doubleshotespresso]

Ok so beautiful though these are I think I will stick with my trusty notebook and pen.....

[GrabbyMcGrabby]

There's nothing like writing beautiful lists to help procrastinate actually doing anything...

[Muddlewitch]

What kind of things go in the 'urgent but not important' category? How does it get to be urgent to do if it's not important?

[BertieBotts]

It means things which are time limited but don't really matter if they get done or not, like 'buy tickets for X gig'.

You're supposed to do it all on a grid.

House :o I can't imagine ever finishing my master to do list! Mind you it does have things like 'learn French' and 'open a business' on it. It's mainly where I leave my daft ideas so they stop cluttering up my head and making me forget about things I actually have to do.

[gunsandbanjos]

We have a shared list on our iPhones for shopping, that’s handy. As we need something add it to the list and whoever gets to the shop first gets it and ticks it off.

[Basecamp21]

Grabbymcgrabby- exactly what I was going go say.....'getting organised is my favourite way of procrastinating.

I can't believe OP enthusiasm for something I assumed everyoñe just did in one form or another!!

[speakout]

Not my cup of tea.

I like to live my life in a more fluid way. Sometimes things that are not urgent suddenly become so, priorities change, some tasks suit my mood depending on the day.
I am self employed and work from home, I can change my tasks and activities at the drop of a hat.
I would hate to be governed by a worksheet.

[NapQueen]

I love my work To Do list. Im in admin so my list is split into the four departments I do work for. Its on excel so each page has that weeks recurring tasks on, and as I get given more they are written on the bottom.

Tasks are marked as either S for short or L for long (L = will take me more than 15 mins or is a really awkward task I need assistance with etc).

Just before lunch and mid afternoon I whizz through the list and colour in the cells Ive completed. Different colour for each day. I also count up how much ive done and a little sum works out my productivity. I like to end the week at oVer 80%. Some of my work is long term projects so I will never end up with 100%.

I set it up in my first couple of weeks there when my workload was relatively low, and spend roughly 5mins morning and 5 mins afternoon on it.

[C8H10N4O2]

One great way to avoid making lists is to discuss nice list making stationary

I use moo.do. However anything will do, if you actually use it instead of making it a displacement activity. I am occasionally guilty of this.

[TobleroneBoo]

I've just read this buzzfeed article on bullet journaling

And now want one

www.google.com/amp/s/www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/rachelwmiller/how-to-start-a-bullet-journal

[Nanna50]

I rarely get through a list before writing another, I get stressed by the length of my to do lists at home and work

I use outlook calendar, for tasks, appointments, reminders etc, if its not on there it's not happening

I use pen and large note book to record calls, meetings, etc at work , if its not in there it didn't happen

[speakout]

But what happens when things change and life gets in the way?

[Wotrewelookinat]

My To Do List is constantly changing, evolving and being added to, though I am pretty good at ticking things off too. I have a Main List which sits in the kitchen, and write temporary lists if I think of something in bed or on my phone when walking the dog, which then get moved onto the Main List. I simply couldn’t function without a to do list...but the bullet journal looks really complicated to me! Give me an old scrap of paper any day!

[Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Some of us have been doing this for years

If I don't have lists, I become very quickly overwhelmed and 'malfunction'. I just don't get anything done.

I think my best lists are the lists of all the lists I need to make. Christmas Lists List; Camping Trip Lists List; Work Lists List...

I don't use anything too convoluted though. It is the best way to procrastinate! I just have a nice hardback notebook and keep my Lists in there.

If I do something that wasn't on a list, I add it to the list retrospectively.

I have AS. Without the lists nothing gets done. If something doesn't get added to the list, I get 'stuck' at it and can't move on.

[jamaisjedors]

I use thé billet journal in a much simpler way, no arty stuff.

I have:
A brain dump at the back for random " must do that sometime" things (like OP's master list.

Monthly goals

A page per week with daily goals/to did

I like the monthly goals, it helps keep on track with the bigger picture.

I occasionally put packing lists/Christmas ideas in there but could do this better I think.

I still use Google calendar and a to do app as well.

[BeyondThePage]

All the list makers I know are procrastinators and if they stopped making lists they'd get stuff done.

When I write lists - to paraphrase a pp : It feels like I am carefully listing all my failures, in priority order.

[FaithEverPresent]

I use a bullet journal for to-do lists and random things I like to save (like inspirational quotes). I use google calendars though because mine are linked to my family so I’m more likely to remember what’s going on! My bullet journal is really not pretty. It’s practical and messy looking. If I wanted to draw and make it pretty that’s all I’d ever get done!

[ProperLavs]

I hate work sheets. I have glued a mini whiteboard to a kitchen wall. I write stuff on there when I need to be more focused. I have enough things I have to do on a daily basis. Having a to do list would just suck even more freedom and joy out of my life.

[ShoesHaveSouls]

I'm a list maker and procrastinator.

I have a complex and scrappy post-it-note-based system around my laptop. Messy and not v efficient. They sit there, goading me while I'm mumsnetting not being very productive.

It is nice when (on a good day) I get to cross lots of things out though, and screw up the goady little post-its.

[Welwyncitydweller]

Other than shopping lists and professionally, I stopped making to do lists as it was making my stress worse. The master list just highlighted to me the enormity of what I had to do. I will never have the time or funds to do everything so I abandoned the list and now just do things as they become urgent and no longer possible to live with.

[Mrscog]

The only fail safe list for me is just one long list, put everything on one list then just read through it and do whatever jumps out at you. It’s the Mark Forster approach and the only one that’s ever worked for me.

[karriecreamer]

By the time you've thought and written your "to do" list, you could probably have done half the jobs you've written on it. It should only be for "deferred" jobs, i.e. reminders to do things that you can't do today.

I far prefer the "just do it" method of organisation. Rather than writing down "pay the gas bill", just pay the bloody thing and then file & forget - takes just a few seconds longer than writing it on the list. Same with all incoming mail/emails, etc. Either answer/deal with them straight away if they're quick/simple, or delete them if they're not important, or if they really need time being spent to answer, only then defer them and write them on your "to do" list.

In my experience, "to do" lists are just another way of procrastination. In reality, they can be very short and should only contain the things that you really can't do today, i.e. more of a reminder system than a to-do system.

[ProperLavs]

I like the idea that list makers are procrastinators. I am certainly a do-er and I hate lists. Seems to make sense then.