UpYourTime blog

The oldest productivity tool in the book is the to-do list. Written on little pieces of paper, on your agenda or in a saved text message, you've always got a list of things that need to be done at some point. And they're probably filled with all kinds of tasks: house chores, work tasks, meetings with friends or things you need to buy. Trouble is how do you manage all these lists without going crazy?

It's actually pretty simple. And it doesn't require any complicated time management technique and it also increases your productivity right away if you stick to the list.

Step 1 is writing down all your tasks. You'd better write all of them so you won't forget anything. Anything from buying a new TV to filling a timesheet.

Step 2 is prioritizing. Arrange your tasks by importance and urgency. Set right from the start what is important to you and you'll know what to begin with and how to keep everything under control. You should know beforehand if home or work-related issues are more important and precisely when to do each one of them.

And that should be all. You can start working right away. For extra productivity, you can create multiple lists: one for each day, or for each week, or separate lists for home and work. Also, you can use to-do list apps or softwares to keep yours at hand at any time.

Have fun creating lists. :)