Procrastination - Gone! A Better ToDo List

Last night I was reviewing my five (5) ToDo Task Management tools ... and wondered why I have so many ToDo's open, yet nothing I 'have to do' is late or incomplete. Now that includes family, business and personal tasks that I thought (that's right - thought) were required to be complete. I do view myself as a procrastinator since my ToDo list seems unending, and wondered that if that is me - why and how are things getting done? This personal inquisition led me to check out one of my favorite productivity / self improvement sites to find the answer. Very quickly, (and thanks to fact that 'what goes on the Internet, stays on the Internet') I found an excellent article that sorts out my dilemma and provides a basic road map to help manage ToDo's. Let me share the highlights that will also serve as my personal reminder for my future ToDo lists:

• ToDo's should be actionable and can be completed in a sitting
• ToDo's support progress towards a recognized goal and are something that YOU are the person most appropriate for the job
• ToDo's are tasks that should be done
• Most ToDo lists we all have include ideas, thoughts and projects that are not in themselves actionable
• 'Organize the Garage' is NOT a ToDo ... break this down, down, down to what is called the Next Action. Organize the Garage is a Project with many, many tasks.
• Work your tasks down into physical activities, even if the action has minimum effort ... 
• Phrasing is important and valuable. ToDo's should follow "verb the noun with the object" ...  i.e. "Pick a date to work on the garage"
• ... and most importantly remove non-ToDo's and put them in a project or someday folder - ToDo's are To Do!

Read more on Building a Smarter ToDo List when you have time in your reading schedule.