I never used to be a list person. In fact,  I was almost an anti-list person. The idea of keeping lists made me feel old, boring and too tied to the order the list created. Then I started working from home and realized that without something to keep me organized and on track, I was lost. So, I started making lists. I found that the more I worked on my list system, the more organized and productive I became. I started getting more done in the same amount of time–freeing up time to work on those extra things I “never had time for” and allowing me to have larger blocks of free time.

The most important part of loving lists is finding a way of making and working with your lists that fits your style. You know the old saying you can fit a square peg into a round hole? Well, the same applies here. Changing habits takes a long time. It’s also an uncomfortable process because it’s something new and out of the norm. Don’t try to do a complete overhaul on yourself all at once, introducing rigid lists and scheduling if you’ve always leaned toward loose, flexible, “work-on-whatever” types of scheduling. It will be too painful and you’ll end up chucking the whole idea.

Here are some tips on using lists effectively:

• Take Stock: Block out some time at least once a week to create your list for the coming week. Think about everything you need to get done and write it down. I prefer to use a weekly list rather than breaking it down day-by-day at this stage. Be sure to include any tasks that are under a deadline and other things that you’d like to get done, but aren’t crucial that particular week.
• Break it Down: When you’re addressing larger jobs that take two or more tasks to complete, break them down into those smaller tasks on your list. For example, if writing a tutorial is one of the “master tasks” that need to get done that week, that may involve research, creating screenshots, writing/formatting text, editing text and, finally, publishing the tutorial. These smaller steps are what I will write on my list. I do this for two reasons: it helps me better gauge where I’m at in the process of the master task and I get a sense of accomplishment and “movement” with my list quicker which helps keep me motivated.
• Priority Order: List anything that’s under and upcoming deadline first. Things that you don’t have to get done by any specific time should be lower on your list. Once you’ve knocked out your “must-do” items, you can use remaining work time to work ahead or pick away at new ideas.
• Re-evaluate & Review: At the end of the day (or the beginning of the next day), read over your list. Make sure there isn’t anything you need to add that you may have forgotten or that has come up since you made the list. I like to do this each night to kind of prep my brain for what I’m working on the next day.

In the first bullet, I mentioned that I like to use a weekly list as opposed to making a list each day. This is because I use the “Moving List” concept. On Monday I start out with a very large list prioritized by deadline. Anything completed on Monday is knocked off the list and the remaining tasks move to Tuesday. List items completed on Tuesday are crossed off and the remainder is moved to Wednesday–and so on. I prefer this way of working because sometimes I get pulled away from my work, or tasks take longer than I planned. When I work from a day-to-day list, I feel awful if I haven’t accomplished everything I had slated for the day. I find the Moving List works better with my lifestyle and my own personal motivators. Some days I’m able to complete much more than I expected, which balances out the days where things were slow going.

This is where your personal style will really come into play. Some people work better with a set number of tasks to complete each day, others work better with this fluid, moving list concept. Maybe you’ll invent your own way of doing it. How you do it doesn’t matter–what matters is that you’re being productive, hitting deadlines and making the most of your work time.