Practical Advice for Managing your To-Do List

I've been asked by some people for my system of organizing my tasks that I've developed.  Over the past several years of working at LINC North Texas, my job description has continually had more and more things added to it.  I work in a variety of different areas and tasks at once, constantly juggling projects as diverse as building maintenance to accounting reports, and from video production to researching in scholarly journals.  I've had to constantly have an eye toward enhancing my capacity, continually monitoring and giving myself feedback to improve.  I believe that anyone can grow their own ability to work efficiently and effectively.

One common criticism is that personality rules the day when it comes to effectiveness at work.  This is undoubtedly true, and different types of responsibilities also require different ways of managing work.  If your job is to develop relationships, the way you organize your work will look very different from someone whose job is to keep the wheels of a warehouse running.  However, whether the task is a person or a form, it's still a task, and it still needs to be managed well.  My own personality isn't nearly as high-organization as you'd think - my dominant characteristic is relational and I chafe in high-detail organization and management duties.  Still, here's a few of the things I've learned, with my own systems included for example.  Hopefully there are universal applications in some of these things, and some adaptation can work for a variety of different types of personalities and roles.

1. Environment matters.

The very definition of productivity.

Or is this your preferred work environment (Jack included)?

It's not surprising, but the environment you're in makes an enormous difference in how productive you are.  I, as an extrovert and team-oriented person, shrivel into near-worthlessness if I'm stuck alone for 8 hours...unless I have a single, exciting, and results-bound project to work on.  If I know I'm going to be alone in the office, I can't have 5 different minor tasks planned, or some really mundane data entry, or a long-range ongoing maintenance task that will never go away.  It needs to have a definite finish point.  I also know that my mindset will be affected by the clothes I wear.  If I wear jeans and a polo, I have a very different mindset at my desk than in a dress shirt and slacks.  It's just subconscious.  Lighting matters, though in the office I'm in I am unable to make it what I want it to be.  I could go on, but you get the point.

Organize your physical space as well.  I have 4 different types of papers that I constantly deal in - bills, contributions, receipts, and HR papers.  So I have 4 filing trays for them, plus a fifth for other stuff that I should probably hang on to for a while but don't want sitting out.  There's always those papers you are currently involved in, so I have one stack for those.  There's also always those papers you are working on, but you are waiting for something before they become relevant to you again.  Those go in a different stack so they don't clutter my direct workspace.  You can also think about what you're looking at.  Your mindset at work will be different if you're looking at a computer, a bookcase, a picture of your spouse, or a window.

Make sure some things are not immediately convenient to you.  Researchers have long known that sitting at a desk for long periods of time is not good for you in a variety of ways.  Frequently getting up will help you physically and also mentally.  For me, the copier and my files are in a different room.  I also recently removed the trash can from my desk.  I found that the majority of my stuff was recycling anyways, so now I have to get up every time I throw something away or recycle it.  A final note - figure out whether music helps you, and if so, what kind.  Music helps me a lot, but only if it's reasonably gentle and light on vocals.

2. Don't let things fall through the cracks.

One of the quickest ways to non-verbally inform a coworker that they are not important to you is to ignore them.  Whether it's not replying to an e-mail, or forgetting things they've asked you to do, when we let things slip through the cracks we are not just decreasing our effectiveness, we are letting our teammates down.  A little bit of systems thinking is necessary here.  How does communication happen in your workplace?  If e-mail is heavily used, you've got to become a master at managing your e-mail.  Set up a system for yourself - an e-mail in the Inbox means one thing, an unread item means another, an archived item still another thing.  Yes, you can mark items "unread"!  My system is not to delete something out of my inbox until no more input is needed.  Thus, my inbox constantly carries around a manageable list of items that will need followup at some point.

From time to time, audit yourself to see if things are falling through the cracks.  Think through the system - how could something get lost?  Patch any hole you think of with some kind of plan.  The solutions will be as varied as the problem and as varied as your personality.  Your workplace of course contributes to this.  I have one coworker who builds armies of different-colored post-it notes around her on her desk.  Everything is somewhere visible there.  If the communication in your workplace is more verbal, have a designated "meeting" notebook where you take notes every time you sit down to talk with someone.  Once you get back to your desk, incorporate the notes into some sort of a to-do list.  Which brings me to:

3. Manage your action items in three ways.

There are three ways of seeing your to-do list.  The first is as a broad overview of everything you are working on or need to work on.  This can include some very long-range projects and things that are permanently on your desk.  The second is as a "Steven Covey First Things First" way, where you identify and prioritize the things that need to get done.  The third is as a simple to-do list of what you plan to get done in a set period of time.  If you have a wide variety of responsibilities like me, employ all three methods for optimal effectiveness.  For me, I have a piece of paper permanently on my desk where I have a list of projects organized by area of my job.  Currently I have 4 large sections, 12 projects, and 21 action steps on it.  I also have other areas of the page marked out as a shopping list (since I do purchasing for the team), as a "parking lot" (things I'd like to do someday, but not for a while), and for "open items" with my supervisor that we need to discuss at some point.

For the second way of seeing the list, I flip to the back side of that list of projects.  I have five weeks at a time (that's how much fits on the page).  For each working day over the five weeks, I decide on one "goal" for the day.  One project that will be the majority of my focus for the day.  I usually plan out the week on Monday, sometimes leaving the last day or two to plan once I get closer to be more flexible.  I've learned which days I won't accomplish any big tasks on, and I've learned each week needs a "catch up" day for all the little things that didn't fit elsewhere.

For the third way of seeing it, I keep an online "to-do" list.  It's a daily list.  Each day before I go home I plan the next day's to-do list, based off my first two planning pages.  If something didn't get done, I leave it on there for the next day.  Over time you learn to realistically understand how much you can get done with the other demands that will appear unexpectedly.

These ways of seeing your tasks will vary widely based on your role and personality.  I have known people who have a list on their to-do of people - anyone who comes to mind that they want to connect with for any reason.  Your projects may take the form of questions or problems if your job requires more critical thinking.  Perhaps an entire day is devoted, not to "Do all the expense reports," but to "How do I improve the teamwork within the accounting department?"  An entire week may be dedicated to "What can we do to regain market share?"

In conclusion....

This is all about finding something that works for you.  These general headings are universal - environment, plugging the holes, and managing tasks.  The systems, however, will be widely varied.  The one constant throughout, however, is awareness.  You have to be aware of your own systems, however they've developed.  Not having a plan is, in fact, a system in itself, though an inefficient one.  Improving capacity and effectiveness in these ways will take some time and some creative thinking, and some time developing the systems.  You may have to do some major cleanup of your e-mail box, or design a Word document you can use as a graphical illustration of projects.  This kind of work, however, will always prove worthwhile.  Covey calls it "sharpening the saw," as you are taking time away now to make your future work better and easier.