The Electronic To Do List

A few weeks back we discussed the power of writing down the six things you want to accomplish (in order) before you leave your office each day. When you arrive the next morning, tackle one task at a time and stay on the that task until it is completed. Today I’d like to discuss the benefits of the electronic to do list as a means of managing these tasks.

Using your mind to store all the things you need to do can be both inefficient and stressful. Seeing your list of tasks allows you prioritize them. This alone can have a tremendous impact on your productivity.

For years I used the Covey system. It is a four quadrant to do list that allows you to segment the items you need to accomplish by time and importance. If you take a piece of paper and draw a line across the middle, then do the same from top to bottom. You should now have four equal boxes on the page. The top left quadrant is for tasks that are important and urgent. An example might be creating a report that your boss needs for a presentation he is giving the next day. The top right is important but not urgent. This could be setting an appointment to see your doctor for a physical. The lower left box is urgent but not important–setting your DVR to record a show that you will be unable to watch. Finally, the bottom right represents tasks that are not important and not urgent–You have a gift certificate to a local store that you want to be sure to use.

There is an app that is available for iPhone and Android called Priority Matrix. This is an electronic version of the Covey system. It uses the cloud to sync across all of your devices and is incredibly easy to use.

If you own an iPhone and/or Ipad and like the idea of a simple to do system, consider using the preloaded Reminders app. It allows you to dictate to Siri to input the task. This is useful especially if you think of something as you are driving. You can set a priority level for your task, change the order of the list effortlessly, and set a reminder at a particular time and day. You can even set your device to trigger a reminder when you arrive at a specific location.

There’s nothing more powerful than a to do list to keep you on task. The beauty of keeping it electronically is that it’s always with you; it’s backed up, allows for easy editing and goes far beyond anything you can do on paper. Regardless of your method, it is critical that you have a system for logging and prioritizing your tasks.