I have continuously iterated and improved my daily to-do-list. To ensure I was focused, productive and felt good at the end of the day.
What currently works for me is the following layout.
- The focus for the day: This is the highest/most complex pay-off task in my backlog of tasks and is one thing that must be completed today.
- Priorities: I usually have two priority tasks but you can have 1 or as many as you like – these tasks should be the next highest pay-off on your list. However, they cannot be as complex as the day’s focus. They can even be small tasks that contribute toward your “focus of the day”
- On-the-day tasks: We all have these ad-hoc tasks that just appear during the day that needs to be done. I tend to only have 1-4 slots for these. You want to limit these as it takes away time from your focus – so be selective. The rest can be sent into your backlog.
Finally its always good to reflect on your day, you can add things to your to-do list in other sections such as “What you were Grateful for” OR “Learnings from the day”