{"id":9451,"date":"2012-06-28T12:30:35","date_gmt":"2012-06-28T16:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smarttan.com\/news\/?p=9451"},"modified":"2012-06-28T09:52:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-28T13:52:17","slug":"get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/","title":{"rendered":"Get More Done With Smarter To-Do Lists"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, \u201cMake the most of your to do list,\u201d compiled the best advice on making and using to-do lists. As small business owners and operators, you may feel like there\u2019s never enough hours in the day to complete everything on your agenda, but these ten tips will help you manage your tasks more efficiently.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Use the right tool.<\/strong> For some it\u2019s a pen and index card; for others it\u2019s an app on a smartphone or the tasks section in Outlook. Just make sure it\u2019s a tool that you look at every day.<\/li>\n
  2. Focus.<\/strong> Be specific, focused and crisp. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t precise enough you can invent excuses for not doing the task,\u201d the author writes. Ask yourself questions like: Does this task really need to go on a list? Why are you doing it? Does it really need to be done?<\/li>\n
  3. List control.<\/strong> Keeping one lengthy list of all types of tasks can dull the satisfaction you get from crossing tasks off. Try using multiple lists for different types of tasks. \u201cI keep a long term \u2018big\u2019 hard-to-do list and a shorter, next week or two list and a today list,\u201d the author writes.<\/li>\n
  4. Prioritize \u2013 or not.<\/strong> Remember the pareto principle \u2013 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Every day decide on the most important thing to do, make time and do it. If a task stays low-priority for too long then maybe it shouldn\u2019t be on the list at all.<\/li>\n
  5. Schedule.<\/strong> Schedule lengthy tasks into your calendar to help you commit to getting them done. If you\u2019re easily distracted, it can also be helpful to schedule some time for breaks as well. \u201cThat way you have an end for them and can avoid too much procrastination,\u201d the author writes.<\/li>\n
  6. Break it down.<\/strong> If a task seems too big or complex to grasp, break it down into smaller tasks to help get you started.<\/li>\n
  7. Document success.<\/strong> When you successfully complete a task, write a short summary of what you did. Keep a running file of successes to refer back to when you\u2019re trying to solve a particular problem in the future.<\/li>\n
  8. Habits.<\/strong> Set up a regular time each day to keep up with your list, make additions and subtractions and decide if certain tasks were worth your time.<\/li>\n
  9. Set up to succeed.<\/strong> It\u2019s fine to have a master list of all future tasks, but make sure to set reasonable expectations for your daily lists. Don\u2019t schedule more than you can reasonably accomplish.<\/li>\n
  10. Affirmation.<\/strong> Daily affirmation can help you reach long term goals. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Keep big-picture goals in mind when you\u2019re completing small tasks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To read the entire article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A recent article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, \u201cMake the most of your to do list,\u201d compiled the best advice on making and using to-do lists. As small business owners and operators, you may feel like there\u2019s never enough hours in the day to complete everything on your agenda, but these ten tips will help […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGet More Done With Smarter To-Do Lists - Smart Tan News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, \u201cMake the most of your to do list,\u201d compiled the best advice on making and using to-do lists. As small business owners and operators, you may feel like there\u2019s never enough hours in the day to complete everything on your agenda, but these ten tips will help you manage your tasks more efficiently. Use the right tool. For some it\u2019s a pen and index card; for others it\u2019s an app on a smartphone or the tasks section in Outlook. Just make sure it\u2019s a tool that you look at every day. Focus. Be specific, focused and crisp. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t precise enough you can invent excuses for not doing the task,\u201d the author writes. Ask yourself questions like: Does this task really need to go on a list? Why are you doing it? Does it really need to be done? List control. Keeping one lengthy list of all types of tasks can dull the satisfaction you get from crossing tasks off. Try using multiple lists for different types of tasks. \u201cI keep a long term \u2018big\u2019 hard-to-do list and a shorter, next week or two list and a today list,\u201d the author writes. Prioritize \u2013 or not. Remember the pareto principle \u2013 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Every day decide on the most important thing to do, make time and do it. If a task stays low-priority for too long then maybe it shouldn\u2019t be on the list at all. Schedule. Schedule lengthy tasks into your calendar to help you commit to getting them done. If you\u2019re easily distracted, it can also be helpful to schedule some time for breaks as well. \u201cThat way you have an end for them and can avoid too much procrastination,\u201d the author writes. Break it down. If a task seems too big or complex to grasp, break it down into smaller tasks to help get you started. Document success. When you successfully complete a task, write a short summary of what you did. Keep a running file of successes to refer back to when you\u2019re trying to solve a particular problem in the future. Habits. Set up a regular time each day to keep up with your list, make additions and subtractions and decide if certain tasks were worth your time. Set up to succeed. It\u2019s fine to have a master list of all future tasks, but make sure to set reasonable expectations for your daily lists. Don\u2019t schedule more than you can reasonably accomplish. Affirmation. Daily affirmation can help you reach long term goals. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Keep big-picture goals in mind when you\u2019re completing small tasks. To read the entire article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, please click here.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get More Done With Smarter To-Do Lists - Smart Tan News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A recent article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, \u201cMake the most of your to do list,\u201d compiled the best advice on making and using to-do lists. As small business owners and operators, you may feel like there\u2019s never enough hours in the day to complete everything on your agenda, but these ten tips will help you manage your tasks more efficiently. Use the right tool. For some it\u2019s a pen and index card; for others it\u2019s an app on a smartphone or the tasks section in Outlook. Just make sure it\u2019s a tool that you look at every day. Focus. Be specific, focused and crisp. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t precise enough you can invent excuses for not doing the task,\u201d the author writes. Ask yourself questions like: Does this task really need to go on a list? Why are you doing it? Does it really need to be done? List control. Keeping one lengthy list of all types of tasks can dull the satisfaction you get from crossing tasks off. Try using multiple lists for different types of tasks. \u201cI keep a long term \u2018big\u2019 hard-to-do list and a shorter, next week or two list and a today list,\u201d the author writes. Prioritize \u2013 or not. Remember the pareto principle \u2013 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Every day decide on the most important thing to do, make time and do it. If a task stays low-priority for too long then maybe it shouldn\u2019t be on the list at all. Schedule. Schedule lengthy tasks into your calendar to help you commit to getting them done. If you\u2019re easily distracted, it can also be helpful to schedule some time for breaks as well. \u201cThat way you have an end for them and can avoid too much procrastination,\u201d the author writes. Break it down. If a task seems too big or complex to grasp, break it down into smaller tasks to help get you started. Document success. When you successfully complete a task, write a short summary of what you did. Keep a running file of successes to refer back to when you\u2019re trying to solve a particular problem in the future. Habits. Set up a regular time each day to keep up with your list, make additions and subtractions and decide if certain tasks were worth your time. Set up to succeed. It\u2019s fine to have a master list of all future tasks, but make sure to set reasonable expectations for your daily lists. Don\u2019t schedule more than you can reasonably accomplish. Affirmation. Daily affirmation can help you reach long term goals. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Keep big-picture goals in mind when you\u2019re completing small tasks. To read the entire article from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, please click here.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Tan News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-28T16:30:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Smart-Tan-Logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"smarttannews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SmartTan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"smarttannews\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"smarttannews\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#\/schema\/person\/722dc7049af55e0ed743d67ce9ed4819\"},\"headline\":\"Get More Done With Smarter To-Do Lists\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-28T16:30:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\"},\"wordCount\":481,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/index.php\/get-more-done-with-smarter-to-do-lists\/\",\"name\":\"Get More Done With Smarter To-Do Lists - Smart Tan News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.smarttan.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-28T16:30:35+00:00\",\"description\":\"A recent article from Yahoo! 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Try using multiple lists for different types of tasks. \u201cI keep a long term \u2018big\u2019 hard-to-do list and a shorter, next week or two list and a today list,\u201d the author writes. Prioritize \u2013 or not. Remember the pareto principle \u2013 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Every day decide on the most important thing to do, make time and do it. If a task stays low-priority for too long then maybe it shouldn\u2019t be on the list at all. Schedule. Schedule lengthy tasks into your calendar to help you commit to getting them done. If you\u2019re easily distracted, it can also be helpful to schedule some time for breaks as well. \u201cThat way you have an end for them and can avoid too much procrastination,\u201d the author writes. Break it down. If a task seems too big or complex to grasp, break it down into smaller tasks to help get you started. Document success. When you successfully complete a task, write a short summary of what you did. 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Small Business Advisor, \u201cMake the most of your to do list,\u201d compiled the best advice on making and using to-do lists. As small business owners and operators, you may feel like there\u2019s never enough hours in the day to complete everything on your agenda, but these ten tips will help you manage your tasks more efficiently. Use the right tool. For some it\u2019s a pen and index card; for others it\u2019s an app on a smartphone or the tasks section in Outlook. Just make sure it\u2019s a tool that you look at every day. Focus. Be specific, focused and crisp. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t precise enough you can invent excuses for not doing the task,\u201d the author writes. Ask yourself questions like: Does this task really need to go on a list? Why are you doing it? Does it really need to be done? List control. Keeping one lengthy list of all types of tasks can dull the satisfaction you get from crossing tasks off. Try using multiple lists for different types of tasks. \u201cI keep a long term \u2018big\u2019 hard-to-do list and a shorter, next week or two list and a today list,\u201d the author writes. Prioritize \u2013 or not. Remember the pareto principle \u2013 80% of the results come from 20% of the effort. Every day decide on the most important thing to do, make time and do it. If a task stays low-priority for too long then maybe it shouldn\u2019t be on the list at all. Schedule. Schedule lengthy tasks into your calendar to help you commit to getting them done. If you\u2019re easily distracted, it can also be helpful to schedule some time for breaks as well. \u201cThat way you have an end for them and can avoid too much procrastination,\u201d the author writes. Break it down. If a task seems too big or complex to grasp, break it down into smaller tasks to help get you started. Document success. When you successfully complete a task, write a short summary of what you did. Keep a running file of successes to refer back to when you\u2019re trying to solve a particular problem in the future. Habits. Set up a regular time each day to keep up with your list, make additions and subtractions and decide if certain tasks were worth your time. Set up to succeed. It\u2019s fine to have a master list of all future tasks, but make sure to set reasonable expectations for your daily lists. Don\u2019t schedule more than you can reasonably accomplish. Affirmation. Daily affirmation can help you reach long term goals. Ask yourself why you are doing what you are doing. Keep big-picture goals in mind when you\u2019re completing small tasks. To read the entire article from Yahoo! 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