Do you often feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do, or do you find yourself missing deadlines? Or do you sometimes just forget to do something important, so that people have to chase you to get work done?
All of these are symptoms of not keeping a proper "To-Do List." To-Do Lists are prioritized lists of all the tasks that you need to carry out. They list everything that you have to do, with the most important tasks at the top of the list, and the least important tasks at the bottom.
By keeping a To-Do List, you make sure that your tasks are written down all in one place so you don't forget anything important. And by prioritizing tasks, you plan the order in which you'll do them, so that you can tell what needs your immediate attention, and what you can leave until later.
To-Do Lists are essential if you're going to beat work overload. When you don't use To-Do Lists effectively, you'll appear unfocused and unreliable to the people around you. When you do use them effectively, you'll be much better organized, and you'll be much more reliable. You'll experience less stress, safe in the knowledge that you haven't forgotten anything important. More than this, if you prioritize intelligently, you'll focus your time and energy on high value activities, which will mean that you're more productive, and more valuable to your team.
Keeping a properly structured and thought-out To-Do List sounds simple enough. But it can be surprising how many people fail to use To-Do Lists at all, never mind use them effectively. In fact, it's often when people start to use To-Do Lists effectively and sensibly that they make their first personal productivity breakthroughs, and start making a success of their careers.
Preparing a To-Do List
To start preparing your To-Do List, download our To-Do List template. (Writing your list down on paper or putting it into a document is the simplest and easiest way to start using To-Do Lists.) Then follow these steps:
Step 1:
Write down all of the tasks that you need to complete. If they're large tasks, break out the first action step, and write this down with the larger task. (Ideally, tasks or action steps should take no longer than 1-2 hours to complete.)

Note:
You may find it easier to compile several lists (personal, study, and workplace To-Do Lists, for example). Try different approaches and use the best for your own situation.

Step 2:
Run through these tasks allocating priorities from A (very important, or very urgent) to F (unimportant, or not at all urgent).
If too many tasks have a high priority, run through the list again and demote the less important ones. Once you have done this, rewrite the list in priority order.
Using Your To-Do Lists
To use your To-Do List, simply work your way through it in order, dealing with the A priority tasks first, then the Bs, then the Cs, and so on. As you complete tasks, tick them off or strike them through.
You can use To-Do Lists in different ways in different situations. For instance, if you're in a sales-type role, a good way to motivate yourself is to keep your To-Do List relatively short, and aim to complete it every day.
In you're in an operational role, or if tasks are large or dependent on too many other people, then it may be better to focus on a longer-term list, and "chip away" at it day-by-day.
Many people find it helpful to spend, say, 10 minutes at the end of the day, organizing tasks on their To-Do List for the next day.