How do you structure your to-do lists?

Question

I'm curiuous on how you structure your to-do lists. For the past months I've been keeping two lists - high priority and low priority - but I'm still struggling since some tasks are larger and take more time vs. others that are completed quickly.

themodelplumber · Accepted Answer

Here's what I use, in brief. It's in my daily journal text file w/ Markdown formatting. The journal files are generated via cron job.

For day-scope items I use a master to-do list & daily schedule. The goal of the to-do list is to arrive at a schedule (previously the two were less related in terms of which arrived at which).

Example from today:

    - META Schedule +sked
        - 910a
            - x Coffee
            - x PROJ Maint.
            - x Rank programming languages
        - 12p
            - Intervals of work design
    - META Points Tally - Use scaling
        - 
    - [V-/.] Develop, Progress, Organize, Check-off (-1 pt per)
        - 
    - [F-/.] Check Universe Levels (-0.5 pt per)
        - Vnt - like/dislike 
        - Prmt - can/cannot
        - 
    - [T-/.] High-Executive, Low-Contingency (+2 pts per)
        - [T-/_] [xsc] PROJ A
        - [T-/_] [_sc] Work CRP review
        - [T-/_] [_sc] Invoicing Review
        - [T-/_] [_sc] Reset settings for X

There are a lot of optional features here like playing golf to avoid productivity burnout (points tally, unused in today's example), determining whether a task is yet on the schedule (xsc) and the type of task (V/F/T), which is determined by a system I designed for balanced productivity [0].

For longer time scope items (maybe what you're referring to by "larger" tasks?) I also integrate a milestone communications, calendar & deadline system which naturally breaks things down into more manageable portions.

This system has changed a lot over the years, and will continue changing...good luck with whatever you decide to do.

0. https://www.friendlyskies.net/intj/the-balance-first-approac...

0x008 · Answer

Since I can only work at one thing at a time I structure them from top to bottom. One bullet point one task. Reorder daily by upcoming priorities. Always I my work on the top task.
Only 1 order of indentation allowed if a task needs further description (no subtasks!).
If I have multiple projects I will split my day and have one todo list per project, only switching from project A to B after lunch.

approxim8ion · Answer

I have a single text file, structured by category. Individual items within categories are loosely ordered by the amount of time I estimate they will take, but if a task that might take longer has a higher priority, it would still go above a smaller task with regular priority. I decide the priority but don't label it.

PaulHoule · Answer

I don't have a master "to do" list, rather I make them situationally on either paper or a whiteboard. Frequently I copy the lists, consolidate them, etc.