Neglecting important tasks can have a major negative impact on your life. Even letting minor ones go unattended for days on end can have a cumulative effect that leaves you with a general feeling of dissatisfaction. Here are five reasons why you may want to start using a task list on a daily basis:
Reminders
Even important things can sometimes be forgotten, particularly if they are one-off events. You don’t want to be smacking your head, saying, “I cannot believe I forgot all about that!” And it’s not just one-off activities that are easy to forget, very busy people even sometimes neglect routine activities on unusually hectic days. For instance, social media helps to grow your business, and not maintaining a regular presence could hurt your bottom line. A task list may help prevent this.
Having a Task List, and getting into the habit of looking at it throughout each and every day, is an excellent hedge against important appointments or events.
Set Priorities
Not only can a task list keep you from forgetting important responsibilities, it can help ensure they get done. Sometimes, there is just not enough hours in a day to accomplish everything we need to do. Establishing priorities is essential in order to make sure that the most important objectives are achieved.
Even when your task list is a mile long, put one to three items at the top that you want to be sure get done regardless of anything else you accomplish that day. That way, you know that every day will be productive, because you will at least be completing the most important items on your agenda.
Time Management
Now that you know what must get done at all costs, you can turn your attention to scheduling the rest of the day around those items. If you make a rough estimate of how much time each task will take, it will give you some idea of what you will be able to accomplish that day. But do not overschedule yourself. On the contrary, leave a little wiggle room.
If you break larger tasks into smaller steps, your list will be an aid in fighting procrastination.
Organization
Trying to keep all of your tasks in your brain takes effort and brain power that could be used much more effectively. Having your entire days’ worth of responsibilities in one place allows you to be much more effective. You don’t want to have to go searching for little pieces of paper with the information you need at the last minute. A task list can show you what you need to have ready for the day.
If you make your list at the end of the day AND get together whatever you will need, then you can really hit the ground running the next morning.
Motivation
Checking items off a list feels so good that it’s an excellent motivation to keep going.
Task lists can be an enormous help in making life flow more smoothly. But some methods work better than others for different people. You may be interested in the ideas Lifehacker offers for keeping a list simple and doable.
