How to Make Your To-Do List Manageable

Every so often, Daniel Hatch will put together a list of all of the things he needs to get done. 

His paper will quickly fill up with tasks large and small relating to the research proposals and projects investigators ask him to gather data for.

“I just want to get everything out of my head so I won’t forget,” said Hatch, a biostatistician with the Duke University School of Nursing.

But for Hatch, making the list doesn’t necessarily mean the tasks will get knocked out in an orderly fashion. With each project unfolding to its own timeline, figuring out what demanded his immediate attention wasn’t always easy. And the sheer amount of items would make the list daunting.

A good to-do list can be a blueprint to a successful workday, helping you move seamlessly from task to task so nothing slips through. But a to-do list that gets too big can become a drag, leaving you overwhelmed with too many items and paralyzed with uncertainty about what to tackle first.

“Your list can get so big that you get frustrated or tired and then you don’t even look at it,” said Joy Birmingham, assistant director of Duke Learning & Organization Development (L&OD). 

Birmingham covers effective to-do lists in her popular Managing Multiple Priorities workshop, which will be offered several times in 2022, including next on March 8. Hatch took the workshop last year, and the approaches helped him, and others, make sense of long to-do lists.

Identify Priorities

While the amount of tasks Hatch needs to complete can get daunting – he’s often working on multiple research projects simultaneously, each with its own set of action items – he’s found that he’s able to keep things moving forward by focusing on what needs to get done right away. After completing the Managing Multiple Priorities course, Hatch began to identify a handful of items – which may have pressing deadlines or be priorities for his team – that he intended to complete each day. He’ll often write these tasks on a separate smaller list for quick reference.

“If I write down the 10 or so things I need to get done in a given day, I can review it or change it if I need to, but I’ll know what I need to focus on,” Hatch said. “That’s been really helpful.”

By singling out priority items – either by color coding them on your all-encompassing to-do list, or writing them on a separate smaller list – you won’t be fazed by the amount of tasks you may have listed. You’ll know what you can get done that day, and what you can leave for later.

Birmingham said it can be useful to think of the items on your lists as falling into either the ‘A’ or ‘B’ categories. Items on the ‘A’ list, like the ones Hatch identifies, must be done that day. Ones that fall to the ‘B’ list, can wait, if needed.

“Do however many ‘A’s you have on your list and if you can slip in a ‘B,’ it really helps,” Birmingham said. “That ‘B’ will probably become an ‘A,’ but you’d rather work on it when it’s still a B.”

Set a Time for Certain Tasks

Stephanie Caler, operations manager for the Occupational Hygiene and Safety Division of the Duke Occupational and Environmental Safety Office, knows that mornings are the time in her day when she’s most effective. Her mind is fresh and sharp and she has energy to get tasks knocked out quickly.

When she makes her to-do list for each day, she singles out three tasks to start her day with. It may be sending emails, or setting up important meetings or calls. But those items are to be done right away. And by doing so, she can cross a few things off her list and head into the rest of the day with momentum.

“I try to do a few tasks within the first 30 minutes of my day,” Caler said. “After that, I’ll focus on things that can be done over a longer period of time. But I’ve found that if I can focus on those three daily tasks, the rest of my day and week goes smoothly.”

Give Yourself Grace

As part of the team that responds to workplace injuries or illnesses, requests for evaluations and trainings, and regular reviews and audits, Caler’s days can often get sidetracked by pressing matters. When that happens, she doesn’t make as much progress on her to-do list as she’d like.

She’s realized that while adding self-imposed deadlines to some items on her to-do list will help move work forward, if she doesn’t get everything done that day, it’s OK.

“I think it’s really important for people to give themselves some grace,” Caler said. “Not so much grace that you don’t do your job, but some flexibility. If you don’t get the things you meant to do on that day done, fit them in over the next couple of days if you have to. Don’t be too hard on yourself. We’re all dealing with a lot right now and it’s important to include your personal well-being in your list of priorities.”

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