Odds are you have a daily to-do list. Nearly everyone on the planet does. How are you at accomplishing your to-do tasks? Do you get most or all of them done? What about the higher priority items? Do you know which to-do items are most important for your day, week, or month to be a success? While we all want to be more successful, and often try to be more successful, sometimes we hold ourselves back in our commitment. And this commitment is what separates people into two camps: those who write their to-do lists down, and those who don’t. You will be more successful, productive, and satisfied in life when you unlock the secret power of to-do lists. It’s so easy anyone can do it!

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Make Abstract Goals Real by Writing Them Down

To-do lists are simply goals.

Goals for the day, the week, the month, or even a year.

Did you know, less than 3% of of Americans have written goals and less than 1% of review or rewrite their goals on a daily basis?

Right here, right now, we can separate ourselves from 97% of the American population by writing down our goals and if we’re really ambitious, we can do it every day to slip into a 1% group of highly successful people.

We all have to-do lists in our head.

We need to schedule that doctor’s appointment, take the car into the shop, buy groceries, make lunches, finish that work task, call that friend, respond to emails, pick up around the house…you get the idea.

Are we successful at completing our daily goals?

Maybe.

We often don’t know.

When the day starts, we’ve got lots of goals in our head.

And when the day ends, maybe they were completed, maybe they weren’t.

We don’t even remember what we accomplished let alone what we hoped to accomplish!

Making daily to-do lists is like a secret power.

In the act of writing down our goals for the day, or revisiting the goals from yesterday, we bring abstract ideas into reality.

Our important objectives become tangible.

When we write a to-do list, we can see our hopes on paper.

And once they’re on paper, we can quickly prioritize them and have a benchmark for success.

Why lists are useful even if you don’t complete them?

To-do lists supercharge productivity, amplify motivation, and give you a scorecard when the day is done.

How often have you flopped on the bed at the end of a long day and just felt defeated?

Felt like you didn’t get anything done and not sure how the day went by so quickly.

Has that ever happened to you?

With a written to-do list, you can choose to never have that feeling again.

Written to-do lists are a constant reminder and guide for your daily focus.

Even if you don’t complete every item on your list, you can quickly see which items you did complete.

While you may not have gotten to Clean the bathrooms, you were able to cross off Change the sheets, Unload the dishwasher, and Vacuum the van.

That’s 3 out of 4! Not too shabby!

With a written to-do list at the end of the day, some items crossed off, some remaining, you’ll know you were productive and successful at some level.

You’ll also know which items need to remain on the to-do list for tomorrow, which increases their likelihood of accomplishment all the more now that other distracting or competing to-do items are done.

How do I create a daily to-do list?

To-do lists don’t have to be complicated!

Here’s what I do and maybe you can take some ideas that work for you.

At the start of a new week, I create a big list of everything I need to accomplish, knowing I probably won’t get to everything all at once.

Writing down all my concerns, burdens, and goals for completion helps me relax and reduces the overall stress of feeling like there is so much to be done and not enough time to do it.

If you have work outside home duties, I recommend two separate lists. The job list should be the primary focus during working hours and the home list can be tackled before and after work, with a simple glance during the workday in case any calls or communication could be done and crossed off.

Once I have all my to-do list items written down, I’ll look at each one and think about what it would take to cross it off the list.

For this to be successful, the to-do list tasks must be specific.

If they’re vague, you won’t know when they’re really done.

Or, if it’s a big task like Fix everything broken inside the house, it’s simply not going to unlock the power of a to-do list.

Big, ambiguous tasks that take a long time must be broken down into smaller chunks that are clear and able to be crossed off daily or weekly.

Now that I have a good list of specific items, I place a star or a number next to the highest priority items.

These high priority items, if I can get them crossed off, will have the biggest impact on how successful my day is.

For example, if I have two items; Organize miscellaneous drawer and File tax return today, there is a clear winner in the priority game.

If the day ends and I crossed off Organize miscellaneous drawer but not File tax return today, I will not feel very good about myself.

On the contrary, knowing File tax return today is done and gone, despite not completing Organize miscellaneous drawer, I’ll be able to sleep soundly and tackle that task tomorrow.

Every to-do list should be prioritized.

If you want to re-write your to-do list after prioritizing them so the most important items are at the top and in order, that’s fine too.

But I’ve found a symbol numbering system or using stars works just as well.

Sometimes I even use big stars or multiple stars to really make my priorities stand out.

Find what works for you but remember the key here is just doing it!

Write down your to-do tasks and then prioritize them.

The One Daily To-Do List Mistake People Make

To-do lists are not a write it and forget it type of thing.

To-do lists are meant to be looked at.

Reviewed.

Edited.

Added to.

Modified.

Reviewed again.

Crossed off.

Cleaned up.

The biggest mistake someone can make after creating their to-do list is not looking at it all day.

It’s this continual and repeated seeing of our most important tasks that drives our productivity.

If you’ve ever thought, “I need to grab some scissors from the other room”, only to forget why you went to that room in the first place, you’ll know why we must look at our to-do lists throughout the day.

We will forget about our daily goals and our daily priorities so, so quickly.

Pro Tips For To-Do Lists

Curious what very successful people think of to-do lists? Here’s a few we can glean some insight from and how they relate to-do lists with productivity.

Elon Musk, Entrepreneur and Owner of Tesla, Neuralink, SpaceX, The Boring Company, SolarCity, and Twitter

Elon Musk believes in writing down all important tasks and then assigning them to chunks of time.

He uses 5-minute time slots to stay focused and prevent distraction.

Barbara Corcoran, Founder of the Corcoran Group, Real Estate Magnate, and Shark Tank Investor

Barbara keeps her to-do list on her desk and includes all aspects of her life on it.

She uses an “A, B, C” system to mark which to-do list items are most important to her and even says “Until I put an A next to it, it doesn’t get done…once I label it, it’s a commitment.”

Jim McCann, founder of the 1-800-Flowers Delivery Company

Jim McCann says he’s “been a list-maker most of my professional life.”

He also creates lists of what must be done each day and goals for the year.

Kevin O’Leary, Entrepreneur and Shark Tank Investor

Kevin O’Leary believes using a daily to-do list made a huge difference in his productivity.

He says “Every night before I go to bed, I write three things on a Post It note that I HAVE to do before anything else when I wake up.”

Richard Branson, billionaire founder of Virgin Group

Richard Branson attributes much of his success to always making lists.

He maintains lists for people to call, ideas, companies to create, people who can make things happen, blog topic ideas, tweets to send, and plans to make.

Richard also encourages people to write down all their ideas, always carry a notebook, and make lists of small, manageable tasks to complete every day, marketing off tasks as they’re completed.

Other Notable People in History Using To-Do Lists

Well known figures such as Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, and many others were found to use to-do lists and maintained books of ideas, tasks, and future projects.

The Bottom Line on To-Do Lists

To-do lists have been used by productive, successful people throughout history to bring about more success and satisfaction in life.

You can create a more successful life by starting a daily to-do list.

Keep it simple and remember, the most important to-do list style is the one that works for you.

1. Start with a small list of important items
2. Prioritize the items with numbers, letters, or other symbols
3. Review your list throughout the day
4. Focus on the highest priority item until it is finished
5. Cross off completed tasks
6. Review the list before bed
7. Revisit the list the next day or create a new one.

If you only knew just how productive you could be by unlocking the secret power of to-do lists.

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