Time Management and To-Do Lists
October 25, 2017

In my February entry, I mentioned how I'd started using a timer to be more
productive by pretending I was back in school. One thing I didn't mention was
which tasks I do during those periods I'm "in class" and how I choose them. For
a long time, I was a devotee of "time management" systems such as David Allen's
"Getting Things Done." But I always seemed to end up spending as much time
managing my time management as accomplishing my tasks. So I set all those
methods aside and worked out my own system.  

My method is simple: I keep a master list of tasks to which I add items as they
come up or I think of them. For big tasks that have multiple parts ("Revise
Master's Thesis," say), I follow David Allen's suggestion and break them down
into smaller steps. Then on Sunday night, when I plan out my week ahead (you do
plan out your week in advance, right?), I transfer tasks from the master list to
my calendar. I generally put down three per day, to allow for the inevitable
things that end up changing what we intended to do that day.

 Each morning, I prioritize the tasks on my calendar by simply asking myself
which one I would be happiest to have accomplished at the end of the day. Then I
sit down and do that task until it's done. I repeat this with the next task.
Eventually, I run out of either tasks or time. If I run out of tasks before
time, I turn to my master To-Do list and pick something else to work on. If I
run out of time, on the other hand, the undone tasks become the first ones I
tackle the next day.

Simple as it is, this is the system that works for me. Feel free to experiment
with it and see if it improves your productivity.

(c) 2017 by Andrew Gudgel 
email: contact [at] andrewgudgel.com