With our busy modern lives, we all use lists - whether we write them down or not. I know that I always have something going on in my head, telling me what it is that I need to get done that day!

Using daily to do lists to help stay organized has become a fact of life for many, especially those who have many different things to think about each day, both personal and work-related.

However, we're all different and what works for one may not work for another. In our quest for productivity and organization it's easy to get lost and end up without either!

This Hub is a quick guide to getting the most of your to-do list, making sure you use it to get things done rather than as a way of avoiding the things you don't want to do.

Using daily to do lists to help stay organizedisn't their only purpose - they can also help you to lead a less stressful life, and here's why:

• Your long-term goals become tangible,
• Large projects are broken up into smaller steps to make them more manageable,
• You'll never forget to do something important,
• Late at night when you can't sleep because you're worrying about what you need to tomorrow, you can write them on your to do list and forget about them,
• You'll make sure the most important tasks are always prioritized and never forgotten,
• You won't miss any important bills you need to pay,
• Most importantly you'll stop having to carry the list around with you in your mind, leaving you much more free to relax!
  

The main problem with to do lists is that they can soon become a tool of procrastination as well as productivity. How? You get obsessed with simply checking things off the list, helping you to feel better about completing meaningless tasks, avoiding the more important ones.

Prioritize

The best way to avoid this is to prioritize. The way I do this is to add my most boring/ most important tasks to the beginning of my list. I don't stick to the order of my list rigidly all the time, but getting the hardest tasks out of the way early on can really help you to stay more productive throughout the day.

Break Things Down

Adding 'write 5000 words' to your to-do list is probably going to do more harm than good: it will leave you feeling daunted and even miserable! Instead, add a few separate checklists - perhaps in 500 word chunks, or maybe a separate point for researching, writing, editing and proofreading. Whatever works for you!

Keep Changing Your Technique

I find that I need to keep changing my to do list technique in order to do what works best for me. Sometimes being very strict with my to do list gets more done, but sometimes I need more space to do what I feel like. Over time you'll start to understand the way you work best.

Although I don't stick to my list rigidly, I do believe that using daily to do lists to help stay organized is an essential part of my life. Sometimes it's frustrating but, at the end of the day, I'd be a lot more stressed if I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing each day!