My Weekly & Daily To-Do List Method
Hello, sweet friends! Happy Monday to you. This morning I am sharing an update about how bullet-journaling and list-keeping is coming along for me. It’s been a month now since I began this practice and, simply put, it’s working great.
One of my big struggles last year was feeling that I didn’t have enough time. I would end most days on the verge of tears, feeling terrible about not completing everything on my to-do list. I pleaded with God for more hours in a day. Which is obviously crazy, but there were a lot of times when I just felt desperate. What I wanted to get done versus what I actually got done never lined up. I became convinced that it was due to a failure on my part because I was not working hard enough or smart enough.
As 2019 came to a close, I spent a lot of time reflecting upon the cycle that I was caught in. I analyzed my to-do lists and compared them against the actual amount of workable hours that I have in a given day. What I realized was that my daily to-do lists were completely unrealistic! The reality is that I am a work-from-home mom. On a perfect day, when the stars align, I have no errands to run, and nothing unexpected pops up, I have two uninterrupted blocks of workable time: 9:15 to 11:15 am and 12:45 to 2:30 pm. All told that is 3 hours and 45 minutes of workable time each day. Sometimes I can squeeze in little blocks of work time outside of that, but that is not reliable or even truly productive.
In hindsight, looking back at the last few years, I can see that each day I tried to fit 7-8 hours of work into my less than 4 hours of available work time each day. Of course I was coming up short and feeling disappointed! I was setting impossible expectations for myself.
As 2020 approached, I continued to reflect and pray. It was around that time that I was reintroduced to the idea of bullet-journaling. I loved the idea of creating clean, beautiful lists that could help me set realistic goals and finally feel accomplished in my work. As I mentioned, I’m still refining my process, but I feel like I am gaining traction. I have yet to map out my monthly, quarterly, annual and strategic goals which I had hoped to have done by this point in the first quarter of 2020. But, I am giving myself grace. I am at the point where I am comfortable with my weekly and daily process, and constructing my longer-term vision is my main priority for March.
Each year, I buy my annual planner in February, once everything goes on sale. 😉 I spent all of January looking for the perfect planner and I found so many amazing and inspiring options. In the end, I chose a simple planner from Papier for my daily lists/appointments and a bullet journal for my weekly lists. (Both of those are linked in this post.) I also use my bullet journal for other things like meal-planning and habit-tracking. Now let’s get into my process.
My weekly/daily process is simple. I write out my long list of weekly goals in my bullet journal. I do this over the weekend prior to the coming week, or if I don’t get to it over the weekend, I do it first thing on Monday morning. My list usually has a combination of tasks in various areas: blogging, social media, housework, personal appointments, wellness, social, family and so on.
Once that is complete, I put my daily appointments and tasks in my regular planner. I pull these items from my longer weekly list or I add them naturally as things arise during the week. I do this each morning because it helps me to set my vision and intentions for the day. When an item is completed, I put a [ ✓ ] next to it. If an item does not get completed as planned, I put a [ > ] next to it, to indicate that it should be completed the next day. If I decide that the item is no longer relevant and I wish to remove it, I put a [ ✗ ] next to it.
This system keeps my to-do lists in order and it keeps me on track. The most important element to this process is making sure that my daily lists are manageable. I need to remember that I have just under 4 hours of workable time in each day. Therefore, it’s important for me to be realistic about what I can actually get done in that amount of time. That way I can check items off of my list and feel accomplished, instead of overextending myself and feeling badly about it.
Typically I schedule about 5-7 items on my daily to-do list. I try to make it an even mix of easy tasks (low hanging fruit), harder (more-time consuming tasks), housework tasks, family time tasks and self-care tasks. A lot of times things like family time and self-care will fall off of my plate if I don’t specifically make special time for them. In my eyes, those things are just as important as anything else and so I give them the same energy and weight as I do any other task.
I am wishing you a great Monday and a productive week ahead. If you need a bit of extra inspiration, check out these Monday quotes to get yourself in gear. I hope that you have found this post to be helpful! I know that I have been sharing so much about time management lately, but it’s where my head is at right now. In January there is still a lot of post-holiday craziness happening. But in my experience, the habits that we have in place by March truly set the tone for the rest of the year and I am really happy with where I am at.
Happy creating, friends! xo
. On the return flight, I finished it. It was my introduction to Seth Godin—no idea why I hadn’t found him sooner!—and what an introduction it was. The book blew me away. It is the best book on leadership and change management that I’ve ever read. While the content is sure to inspire change of the greatest sort within any organization—from business to church, non-profit to learning institution—it is also of incredible value to individuals.
generation. 