The To-do list

by Stefan Knapen on May 14, 2009

Everyone wrote already about it, we all know that we need it and it is the perfect way to ultimate productivity. And Stefan from StudySuccessful.com is going to write about it? Hell yeah.

What is it?

As it says, a to-do list. A list on which you write all your things to do.

Feed Robbert the Rabbit
Make homework
Practise origami
Answer email

And go on and on.

Why is the to-do list so great?

It’s a list on which you can write and see what you need to do. This means, it doesn’t have to be in your head anymore!
It’s small sized, so you can always carry it with you, where ever you are, you can see ‘what to do.’
You don’t have to encounter with any time limit, as with a daily schedule. You can take as long as you want on something.
You can scratch things of your list. Yeah, I wrote a blog post, SCRATCH! With that move, in your brain neurotransmitters are coming free and give you a great satisfied feeling. Try it, write ‘Do 5 sit-ups’ and do them and then scratch what you wrote, amazing right?

How do I use it?

I only write 3 things down every day. I’ll call them ‘Most Important Things’ MIT’s. The idea is from Leo from ZenHabits.net, who calls it Most Important Task. Just three things I urge to get done that day. I put that list in my pocket, next to my phone, so everytime I grab my phone, I feel the list and feel the need to get things done. And it works! 5 of the 6 days it works, serious.

Some flavour

Just some nice extra’s.

Use a @place. ‘Make homework @desk’ or ‘phone dad @phone.’ ‘Tie shoe laces @anywhere’ You can see at once where you need to do things.
Use colors. More important things in a red color, so you can see what you need to get done first.

Well, that is my idea of the best productivity hack ever. What is your idea? Post it in comments!