How to create and manage a Master To Do List

That endless to do list. It gets under your skin. You feel like you are constantly trying to fight the need to do things and little gets done. Urgh. And every week just as you think you can cut something off the list you need to add another nine. Oh dear. Life is like this. It’s a mountain of tasks that never seem to get completed.

We see all this posts of organised women showing us beautifully crafted completed lists (on equally pretty notepaper). We cry into our soggy cereal with our so-called waterproof mascara running down our full foundation faces.

So really apart from selling your kidney and paying a temporary PA to come and work for you is there any real way of combating the To Do List dilemma of the 21st century lifestyle?

You betch’ya!

Really? And you don’t have to research the dark market and sell your organs either! Yay!

Welcome to the world of Master Lists. A Master List is simply but a list of tasks you need to complete. They could be tasks such as ordering wallpaper, getting someone to fix the driveway gate, order Birthday cards….everything you need to do. You put these all on a list that is designed to be a running list. In other words you won’t ever complete the list in your lifetime. Scary thought but it’s being realistic. We all have responsiblities and our tasks are always being added to. So this list is basically the list that will help you create weekly more manageable lists you will be completing.
So this list holds all the tasks you need to do, with an ideal projected date that you want the task completed by.

My list also has additional notes on it. E.g. I usually buy presents throughout the year so I record the location of items in the book. You could also colour code things to make things more organised. This is about making your life easier so modify it to reflect this.

So what do you need?

The ideal list is below:

2X notebooks/jotters/list making notepads (I use an A5 notebook to create my Master list and a smaller one for my weekly list)
NOTE: If you are self employed and wish to create a list for work too double the supplies.

Additional notepad to make notes etc/Sticky notes

Writing supplies

Your diary, calendar, or other time planning methods you use to plan your time.

PATIENCE

At least half an hour to get going (this is an on going project)

Getting started:

1)So you are serious about tackling this. Hurrah! First thing is first. Write down everything you need to do. Like literally. If you are creating a master list for work and home life you’ll need to write them down on the appropriate notebook/paper.

2) Now go through the lists. Is there anything on the lists that doesn’t belong there? Anything that needs doing immedately e.g. booking Hospital appointments or buying Grandmas birthday card and flowers for next week need to be put on an immediate list (you won’t be needing this once you get into the Master to do list system but to get you going you’ll need it). Is there something on your list that is on there because someone else is shying away from their responsiblity? Now is the time to delegate that task. Reducing the tasks will help you on the next step.

3) Now draw two lines down the page of your notebook that will be your Master List. Leave a large column to write the task. You need an additional column to record the date of when you wish to complete the task by and the final column is for ticking off the task.

4) Transfer your tasks to the Master to do list. That’s everything! EVERY.little.thing.

5) Now look at your schedule for next week. How’s it looking? How much time do you realistically have? Got a number? Great. Now comes the big part….

6) Look at your Master to do list. Look for tasks that can be completed in the time you have available and write these tasks on your WEEKLY to do list.
By understanding how much time you have and not over stretching yourself you are reducing the chances of failure and increasing the chances of things getting down.

7) By the end of the week you should have completed your weekly to do list. Tick off anything you’ve completed. Anything that hasn’t been completed can either be re-added to the Master to do list or to the follow weeks list.

8) At the beginning of the week (or on the day you do your weekly planning) create next weeks list.
NOTE: you’ll also be adding things to your Master list. RELAX. This is the idea. The Master List is continiously updated. The idea isn’t to complete everything it’s to be in control and understand what needs doing.
Your weekly list (that you’ve created from your Master List) is the list that will be completed on a weekly basis. This list helps you chart your progress too and gives you a sense of goal completion.

9) Repeat the above steps until it becomes habit or you find another system that suits you better.

Additional notes:

This system can work equally well for couples and families. If you are creating a master list for families you can create weekly lists for family members too.

If you’ve been living in an ocean of incompleted to do lists for as long as you can remember don’t panic if it takes a while to do used to this system. Keep it up for a month and evaluate if it works for you.

Any comments or question; let me know.