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Productivity
Organizing Your Tasks for Busy People
You can improve your self-management without increasing your workload.
Updated March 31, 2024 Reviewed by Ray Parker
Key points
- Task and to-do lists rarely work, but complex organizational systems can become another burden.
- A simple way to keep track of your tasks can help you now without adding to your workload.
- The key is to write down the next steps and current dates to help you move on and eventually prune the list.
The key to hassle-free self-help and self-organization is to avoid organization becoming another task. You have enough of those. A system with new folders, categories, and procedures? Sounds great. Maybe next year. No time right now. Does that sound familiar? Today, we are asking something simpler: what can you do right now?
Today, let's look at how to keep track of your tasks in a smarter way.
A Smarter Task List
As you juggle life and work, new tasks keep popping up. You might be adding them to some sort of list or several of them. Regrettably, to-do lists generally do not work very well. What else is there without starting a whole new system that you have no time to learn?
I do not want you to start a new method or even a new to-do list. I just want you to program yourself to do one simple thing with your to-do list, list of tasks, calendar notes, or whatever you are currently using to keep on top of things.
Here it is. Write it down, repeat it to yourself, and underline it to send it to your unconscious self (this is called an implementation intention in psychology.).
Whenever I add a new task to my list, I write down the task, the date, and the next small action needed for it.
For example, suppose you are given a new project at work, but you are busy with other tasks. So you would put it on your list.
Instead of just doing that, write today’s date and the name of the task (“Project X”), and then spend a moment thinking about the first small, specific step you need to take. Maybe you need to talk to Julie from accounting to get some information. So you write that down, but not just “Meet Julie,” but rather “Call Julie to set up a meeting.” This is a small, specific step. From now on, treat that as a task.
Or maybe you want to switch your account to another bank, but you do not know which one. So it might just linger in the back of your mind.
Instead, go to your list and write today’s date, “Change Bank,” and think for a second about what the first thing you need to do is. You should probably check out the web pages of the other major banks in your area for switching offers. Write “Check out webpages, Bank A and Bank B.” Again, this is a small, specific step. Treat that as a task.
As you keep doing this, your task list will slowly transform into a list of small steps to take, none of which will be daunting. That will help you actually find the time to do them because you have already done part of the work: decide the next step. When you complete that step, cross out the task and spend a minute writing the next step.
Again, write today’s date, the name of the overall task, and the next small step to take.
For example, after you check out the other banks, you might have already chosen one and noticed that you need to gather some documents. So write today’s date, “Change Bank,” and “Gather current account documents.” Next time, you will have everything you need, and the next task will be to actually make the change online or get an appointment in the branch.
Some tasks might disappear from the list for a while.
For instance, after you call Julie from accounting and set up a meeting, you might write that down in your calendar and not the list of tasks. That’s fine. As soon as the meeting is over, you will know what the next step is, and that goes back to your task list: date, name of the task (“Project X” again), and the next small, specific step.
The next step should never sound daunting, or you might start avoiding that task. Think about how to split that step into even simpler ones. If that does not work, divide it artificially. If nothing else helps, call the steps “Work one hour on X (1),” which then changes to “Work one hour on X (2),” etc.
Letting Go of Tasks
Your list of tasks might be a page in a notepad, a file on your computer, or even a collection of Post-it notes all over your desk. Whatever it is, chances are that you tidy it up and rewrite it every now and then. Next time you do that, it might be a good idea to turn it into a table with three columns: date, task, and next step.
In any case, the purpose of a task list is to review it every now and then. When you do that, you will see that your tasks have dates. Notice the ones that have been there for a long time. There was just a small step to take, yet the task has stayed untouched for a couple of months. Time to ask yourself whether you can let go of it.
If somebody else gave it to you, and nobody has nagged you since then, you should check whether the need to complete it has simply gone away. If this is something you want to do, and you have not taken the next small step for a couple of months, accept that you do not have the time or the interest actually to do it. Move it to a “list of ideas” and out of your task list.
Beware of Tech
You can keep your list of tasks on a small notepad and track everything by writing and crossing out things with a pen if you want. Or you can get an organizational app on your phone or computer that will fill in the dates for you and organize the steps of a task graphically. If that’s something you find enjoyable, go for it.
But the more sophisticated the technical solution, the more likely it is that maintaining it will turn into another task, and you will eventually abandon it. Use as much tech as you need to keep your tasks under control, but no more than that: A sturdy notepad and a pen work just fine, and a spreadsheet table is plenty.
Final Notes
If you have ever attempted to follow an organizational system, you will recognize some of the principles involved above. Break tasks into small steps. Always know the next action. Purge your task list regularly. Those are well-tried principles. The point is to ease those principles into your routines so that they become second nature without letting them become another task. When in doubt, remember that principle.
Of course, if you are really busy and things are slipping through your fingers (missed deadlines, forgotten tasks, feeling overwhelmed), you will eventually have to put a system in place. If you see no way to do that, you could consider getting help or setting aside the time to learn about some good systems. In the meantime, approaching task lists this way might help you get a better sense of tasks and feel less overwhelmed.
In previous posts, I discussed three simple tricks to buy yourself some breathing space, get in your own way (to break your routines), treat notes as messages, and reprogram your brain with if-then statements. I also explained the philosophy behind these tricks: treat your future self as a time-starved boss.
