If you’re like me, you love the feeling of accomplishing tasks no matter how big or small. I love the sudden wave of success that washes over me as I complete one task and move onto the next. Due to my love of this I am obsessed with creating to-do lists. In my room you can find calendars, notepads, sticky notes, and an agenda book filled with tasks to accomplish. It might seem like a lot but finishing a task and being able to cross it off makes me feel like every day is productive!
The trick to to-do lists is to write down everything. By everything I mean everything. No matter how big or small the easy tasks are still worth checking off. Sometimes my to-do lists cover a whole piece of paper! I create daily to-do lists, academic to-do lists, and a weekly to-do list. They help me stay on top of everything and motivate me to get things done efficiently!
On Sundays every week, I write my weekly to do list, even though It might not include everything from the start I add to it throughout the week. Usually by the end of the week the entirety of the page is covered. The things I don’t end up getting accomplished gets moved to next week’s list. (I recommend getting a cute to-do list notepad. My to-do list is from T.J. Maxx and was super affordable.) It is always placed on my desk throughout the day to serve as a reminder to not spend all day being unproductive but rather to put on my game face and get things accomplished!
Sticky notes are my best friend when it comes to my daily to-do lists. The effectiveness of the sticky note is that once the day is over you can just throw it out. Additionally, you can stick it to your notebook if you are doing work someplace else on campus. The feeling of the day being accomplished helps my overall wellbeing feel at ease. Sometimes throughout the day there is more than one sticky note because as things get accomplished, I realize I have more time in the day to do more!
My academic to-do list is found in my agenda book. My agenda book allows me to write down all the assignments I need to accomplish throughout the week. It is easy to forget about assignments when they are not written down and seeing them in front of me allows me to remember to get the assignments done on time. I also write down future tests and bigger assignments. This allows me to stay on top of studying and getting parts of bigger assignments done so I am not doing it all at once a few days before it is due.
Creating to-do lists is very rewarding to me. Something about checking off daily tasks allows a wave of success to wash over me. I think that through crossing out the tasks that I complete I am able to stay motivated to want to do more throughout the day. For me, I prefer physical paper to-do lists, but many people enjoy creating ones on their phones or computers. Whatever way you construct your to-do list just make sure it will work for you. I highly recommend creating one (if not multiple) to-do lists throughout the week to allow you to cross off even the smallest of accomplishments you do!