I heavily rely on To Do Lists. As a matter of fact I have relied on them very much that whenever I am without a todo list I am quite not as focused. Why would anyone need a todo list? Isn't just enough to just identify what you need to do and just get it done? Or isn't it enough to just go with the flow of your day? Doing things or tasks as they arrive. For me this is a definite no-no.
Why?
Well personally speaking, I have come to the realization that To Do Lists are very effective to me in the following:
1) Focus
Having a To Do List lets me focus to do an item in my list. How? By having the knowledge that what I am doing have been previously identified by me as a task that is worthy of doing (whether this task is an urgent but unimportant one, or an urgent and important one, or not urgent but important one - as described by Stephen in his 7 Effective Habits of Successful people)
2) Prioritize
Having written down all of my tasks in one list (and actually I categorize my items of doables w/c would be for another blog of how I categorize my doables), I am now able to determine w/c items are more important than others. Hence I can now do this more important items first before doing the less important ones as long as the time is right. Doing an action task requires also that you do them in the right timing - w/c is mentioned in David Allen's Getting Things Done system which I highly adhere to).
3) Track
I can track w/c items I have already done and w/c items are sitting long in my list left undone. Based on these information I have the clearer mind to decide what to do with my left items and I can have a sense of better accomplishment which leads to higher motivation when I view the items I have already accomplished.
4) Efficient Time Usage
Because I have my list of items I have to do, I want to do, and I need to do, I don't waste time on unnecessary things like bumming around for way too long (because sometimes it helps to bum around but on a tracked time and not for as long as you feel like it which might lead to laziness!), watching TV (heck, I hardly watch any TV at all regularly, although I'm still guilty of sometimes splurging on many hours on my favorite series like before the Breaking Bad, or Silicon Valley, hehe ^_^
5) Keep Sane
Sometimes you have so many things in your mind or you know you need to do so many things that it just drives you crazy! Having a To Do list with the proper mindset and a proper system of having a To Do List will surely help in keeping your sanity. I highly recommend David Allen's Getting Things Done system and not just a one long super list of To Do list.
6) Simplify
To Do list greatly helps me simply my life. I can easily detect unnecessary things and avoid them. I can easily determine if an item in my list is not that important or urgent and move them to their proper category. This really helps because I don't have to constantly think about things I need/want to do because they're just there in my list and not at the back of my mind. You see, simplifying your life greatly improves in keeping your sanity ;)
7) Free up unnecessary memorization
Just like what I had mentioned in simplifying your life because things will not be constantly on the back of your mind and constantly popping up from time to time, having a to do list will avoid these items from being unnecessarily in the back of your mind all of the time. Just list them, tuck them away on a category and focus on your next actions and not actions that are for someday or "maybe" ;)
I hope this helps you decide to finally have a ToDo List System of your own if you don't have a regular ToDo List yet. And if you do have already a ToDo List feel free to share how it helps you in your life ^_^
