Using TO-DO lists to get more done

Wouldn’t it be nice to get more done each day? Yet, how many times have you thought to yourself something along the lines of “Gosh, I just wish that I had more time and I could have gotten [that thing] done!” We only have 24 hours in each day and generally spend about one-third of that sleeping, leaving a measly 16 hours to accomplish our daily tasks. For most people, that includes working about 8 hours a day, commuting to and from work, exercising, taking the dog for a walk and, for some people, family obligations such as giving children rides to and from school. This often leaves people feeling stressed out and feeling as if they “didn’t have enough time” to get much done during the day. But what if there was a way that we COULD reliably get more done each day? Wouldn’t that be awesome? No, it doesn’t involve us turning into Inspector Gadget or transforming into the Flash. I am talking about using To-Do lists to increase your productivity and get more done during each day, week, month and year.

This blog provides a brief overview of how To-Do lists can boost your productivity and reduce your stress, but don’t just take my word for it. Research shows that using “To-Do lists” results in getting more things done. Put another way, having a written plan of action increases productivity (Schrager & Sadowski, 2016). This is true not only on a daily basis, To-Do lists are also incredibly effective at increasing the amount that you can get done on a weekly, monthly and even yearly basis. But what benefits do To-Do lists actually provide for you? And why is such a seemingly simple tool so effective at helping you crush our day and accomplish more?

BENEFITS OF USING TO-DO LISTS

1. To-Do lists provide you with a structure and a plan of action. This allows you to focus your energy where it needs to be focused. They also reduce the amount of time that you waste in between tasks because you already know what else you have to do next.

2. They reduce your stress and anxiety. To-Do lists reduce your stress and anxiety in several ways. First, getting more done will automatically reduce your stress because you will feel more accomplished and won’t have so many unfinished tasks looming over your head. This will also reduce your anxiety because you will no longer dread upcoming tasks for a long period of time if you simply get them done and cross them off your To-Do list. Put simply, more tasks accomplished and less things to do = less stress and anxiety.

3. To-Do lists help you remember what you need to do. This sounds simple, but how many times have you thought about doing something, didn’t write it down and then realized several hours or days later that you had forgotten to do the thing you thought about doing? If you have a daily To-Do list, all you have to do is add the new thing that you thought about to your list and it is much more likely to be completed.

4. They provide your brain with a challenge, and whether you realize it or not, your brain loves challenges. When you complete tasks, such as checking an item off of a To-Do list, your brain rewards you with dopamine. Dopamine is the “feel-good” hormone that is associated with pleasure and motivation. When you complete a task, you are pleased to have completed it, and you are simultaneously more motivated to do the next thing on your list. This is why you often complete multiple things in a row when you “finally get around to doing them.”

5. To-Do lists give you a sense of satisfaction of what you have achieved. Piggy-backing off of the last point, it is incredibly rewarding to look at a To-Do list that has been completed, or even partially completed. This allows you to look back on how much you have accomplished during a day/week/month/year and feel proud of what you have done. While it is true that it is possible to accomplish the same amount of tasks without having written any of it down, writing down To-Do lists and then checking them off allows you to remember all of the things that you would have otherwise forgotten that you completed.