I’m a visual learner. I have to write everything down in my planner or else it doesn’t exist. It helps that I actually love writing things down and get a weird kick out of organizing things, whether that’s my room, my planner or my life…
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I start every day day by writing out a to-do list in my planner. Sometimes it takes the form of a traditional to-do list of tasks, and other times it’s a to-do list/schedule hybrid, in which I’ll write down when I have my classes, what time to catch what transportation and all the assignments I need to do. I like to write, okay?
As I accomplish things, I’ll tick them off my list. But I never seem to be able to get to the bottom of my list, and those untouched items transfer to the next day’s to-do list.
You can imagine how long my to-do lists get, and it can be quite overwhelming.
So I started to do this new thing:
Prioritize by picking three things to accomplish per day.
No more, no less. You can start by writing your to-do list as you normally do and let it run as long as it needs to. Then pick three of those things to focus on for the day. If you finish those three things, good for you! You can call it a day and treat yourself to some much deserved self-care, or you can go through the rest of your to-do list, be content with as much as you’re able to get through and not beat yourself up over what you weren’t able to get around to. Be kind to yourself!
This might not work for everyone, but it works for me. If you’re still trying to figure out what works for you, give this a shot!