I’ve struggled with daily tasks for as long as I can remember.
I’ve tried just about everything, from planners to to-do lists of every shape and form. Nothing seems to stick. I would get excited about the idea of transforming my productivity once and for all, but I would always get disappointed.
If you also struggle with getting tasks done on a daily basis, it’s not you — it’s your method!
Why to-do lists don’t work
To-do lists can work wonders at first. But day after day, it can become repetitive and boring. If you have ADHD like me, boy, is it always a struggle to get stuff done in a timely manner!
To-do’s lists an be a miracle for some, because it’s crazy simple — both to create, maintain, and use.
However, its biggest strength is also its greatest flaw — it’s too darn simple. It’s easy to start, but once you get the hang of it, you start to think: hey, maybe I don’t need a to-do list to get by. I’ve been doing great so far. Maybe I’ve been cured of my perpetual executive dysfunctions! Why waste time and energy creating these to-do lists if I can just follow the list in my head?
Aaaand that’s how you spiral out of control. Next thing you know, you’re buried in weeks of laundry and months of unopened mail.
So what DOES work for my wee brain?
We’re bring it back to ADHD, because understanding this condition has helped me tremendously in getting my life on track. Of course, understanding how your brain works can help your productivity whether you are neurodivergent or not.
I’m not a scientist, but I’ll try my best to explain. We’re motivated to do things because of reward. When we do things we’re supposed to do, our brain triggers a dopamine release. You feel pleasure and satisfaction from doing it. Your brain learns that doing this will make you feel good, so you should probably do it again in the future.
For some people, the motivation of completing a simple checklist is not enough after a while. You felt amazing the first couple times you did everything you’re supposed to. But now, that sense of accomplishment just doesn’t feel the way it used to, and you can’t even bring yourself to write a simple to-do list.
So we’re going to make to-do lists a little bit more exciting, and a little bit more challenging.
Yep, it’s still a to-do list — we’re not re-inventing the wheel here. It’s slightly more structured than a regular to-do list to help you prioritize tasks that are important. However, it’s not too complicated or rigid that you have no room for flexibility.
Step 1: Must to-do’s
Your must to-do’s are exactly what they sound like — you must get them done.
When you write your must to-do’s, make sure they’re already in a list of priority (or as much as possible). Also, you should absolutely limit the number of must to-do’s. In other words, this list shouldn’t last forever.
Depending on your capacity and how you like to break down your tasks, the reasonable number of must to-do’s can vary. It can take some trial and error to figure out. The rule of thumb for me is, whatever tasks I think I should be able to finish, I’ll likely have at least 1 or 2 left by the end of the day.
To make sure that this habit sticks, I recommend making this your last task of the day: planning your to-do list for the next day.
Your must to-do list can look something like this:
Step 2: Optional to-do’s
Optional to-do’s are your stretch goals. These are additional tasks that may be beyond your current capacity. If you do them, great. If not, no biggie — these are meant to be a challenge!
There is no specific structure to creating these additional tasks. You’re more likely than not to check each one off based on interest rather than priority. The only guideline is — you should probably keep the amount of optional tasks lower than your obligatory tasks. Otherwise, you’re likely underestimating your work capacity. At this point, just add some items into your must to-do’s at this point.
An example of an optional to-do’s can look like this:
Step 3: Emergency to-do’s
Uh oh. Did something come up that wasn’t on the list? Did things pop up that need to be addressed right away?
No worries. That’s what the emergency section is for! As things come up — as they often do in life — just plop them under emergeny to-do’s as you get them sorted out.
This way, you can take credit for the work that you did do. At the end of the day, you can see everything you’ve accomplished, and it’s usually a lot more than you think!
Here’s an example of an emergency to-do list:
Step 4: Daily Reward
Now this is the most important step — this determines your motivation for finishing your planned tasks.
Basic checklists assume that your inherent motivation to get stuff done is enough, but we know that’s not always true!
It’s also not enough to keep your motivation the same everyday — ADHD girlies like me can lose interest pretty quickly, and the next thing you know, any hope of productivity is getting chucked out the window.
The reward is what you earn at the end of the day for completing all your required tasks. This can be fun, because you can get creative with it!
Sometimes, you need more urgency to get your tasks done, so here’s a hack: commit to a reward in another way so you’ll feel more obligated to achieve your tasks. For example, if you had already bought tickets to a movie tonight, your reward can be going to the movie you had bought tickets for. Now you have extra motivation to get your tasks done — not only do you want to see the movie, you had also already spent money on it, so now you really need to finish your tasks!
- Buy that dress you’ve been eyeing on
- Watch a movie in your PJ’s before bed
- Order pizza (or a favorite meal you don’t normally have) for dinner
- Have drinks with friends
- Make the 7pm dinner reservation with SO
Tips and reminders!
Now you have a basic template for a modified to-do list, feel free to adjust or enhance it to make it work better for you.
Here are some suggestions to make the most out of your daily task list:
- Finding out what works for you can take trial and error. It takes time to get adjusted to a new routine, so don’t get too frustrated if things don’t work out right away. Sometimes, we can give ourselves a hard time for things not working out perfectly, but we don’t need perfection. We just need to take baby steps! If you lose a streak for a day, or even a week or a month, it’s totally okay to jump right back in.
- Don’t overload yourself. I get it — we want to do a lot of stuff, and that’s a good thing! Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much on your plate. That’s an easy way to burnout quickly, and we don’t want that. Make slow adjustments over time, no matter how impatient we can get.
- Give yourself flexibility for changes. Don’t be afraid to shift things around to accommodate your needs, and your needs can change! Maybe you find that you can accommodate more tasks each day later on. Maybe you find that categorizing your tasks make it easier to complete to-do’s. Whatever the case may be, stay in tune with your needs and make appropriate changes to your routines and schedules.
- Plan for reflections. Whether it’s every week, every month, or whenever you can remember, take some time to reflect on what has and hasn’t been working. Maybe this just simply isn’t working for you, and that’s okay! Maybe you need to take a break and come back to it.
Keep productivity interesting
I can be an idealist. Every time I stumble across something new, even just in appearance, I can get caught up in the whirlwind of possibilities.
There are sooooooo many variations of to-do lists and planners and calendars. Some work, and some don’t. Not a single method will magically cure your productivity issues, because it’s still work at the end of the day.
The trick — I find it — is to keep things interesting. Sometimes, we just need a new way of looking at tasks — whether it’s a new structure, format, or tracking method. I totally encourage switching things up! Who says you need to use same stinking template every single day for a whole year?
Speaking of template, you can download mine for free! Make sure to grab my daily to-do list template. Try it out, and if it doesn’t work… well, we can cross that bridge when we get there.
Happy planning!
Free To-Do List
Get your daily tasks in check with this modified to-do list
