What's On Your To-Do List?

As you may have noticed from my last post, I'm on a bit of an organizational kick. Today, I'm going to talk a bit about another "trick" that I use often, and that is the To-Do list.

What's so great about the To-Do list? Well, by itself, it's nothing amazing...just a list of what you need to get done. However, proper use of a To-Do list can help you to organize and prioritize your tasks.

Some people use all kinds of applications like Ta-da List or Remember The Milk to manage their lists. Personally, I've never gotten into those applications. Instead, I use a plain pad of paper and a pen. This pad of paper sits on my desk constantly and is a reminder of the things I need or want to do. And using pen is important, because then I can't just remove things that I don't feel like doing.

Now, I don't use this list for everything. If I tried to write down everything I needed or wanted to do, I don't think I'd ever stop writing. I try to keep it to my development tasks, and then I use my wife to remind me about the other stuff. Some tasks are big, and some are small, but they pretty much all fit on a single line on my To-Do list.

Then, when I sit down to work, I can decide which is most important, or what I have time for. Heck, if it's for myself, it may be what I want to finish most or what seems most fun!

Once I complete a task, I do something very simple: I cross out the task I wrote down. This gives me a sense of completion ("yay, it's done") and allows me to keep track of what's already been done and what hasn't.

I know, nothing groundbreaking, but these little notes really help me out, and they might for you. Whether you like pen and paper, like me, or decide to use an application, it's a good way to keep yourself organized.