Organize IT

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For the last two days I have written about ten tasks that you can trim out of your to-do list to leave things much more focused and streamlined. However, one of the issues that people may not be aware of is what the advantages of having a slimmed down list are. Below are the key benefits so you can start getting the most from your to-do lists.

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Welcome to the second part of my guide (read part one) looking at ten tasks you can trim out of your to-do list to leave you much more focused. If you want to effectively use this list, print it out and include it as part of your weekly review. As you fill in your to-do list check each task against my ten point guide and see if you really need to include it.

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It a special themed week at Organize IT. Over the next three updates I will be focusing on that beloved of tools: the to-do list. Whether you call it a tasks list or a next actions list, they all ultimately mean the same thing. In the first two posts I will detail ten items you can trim out of your to-do list to leave you with a much more focused and easy to follow list.

I’ve found from experience that every system or tool you have set up to organize your life, whether it be the filing cabinet at work, the drawer in the kitchen, your home cleaning rota or the productivity system you use to get things done, will ultimately flourish or fall apart depending on how easily it functions in three key areas: inputting, tracking and deleting. I’ve found that regardless of whether it’s a complex setup used by your business or a simple paper-based system you use at home, if it doesn’t follow the following rules it will fail on you.

Over at Lifehack.org they have an article discussing why plans fail and provides several ideas on how to more effectively and flexibly plan so as to avoid those bumps in the road. This has come at a convenient time for me as over the last month I have noticed how despite planning everything out on my weekly planner it got to the point where I ended up not actually working on much of it.