Managing Your To Do List When You Have Hundreds of Things To Do

Over the past few weeks I've been asked a number of time advice on how to manage a to-do list when you have a large number of things to do. The short answer is I don't believe there is any possible system that can help you when you simply have too many 'important' things to do. You just have to cut down the workload. I've got a bad habit of taking on too many things, getting too busy, cutting out some of the things hence freeing up time, then having a little extra time I take on more things. A viscious circle I'm slowly learning to get out of by saying 'no' to some requests. Having said that I'm sure you still want to be hyper productive and get as many things done in as possible. I think everyone will find there own unique system. There are certain core principles that help (basically treating tasks as a project, splitting into small steps and focusing on addressing the next step) and Getting Things Done is he best book I can personally recommend for learning these.

Anyway, here's the system I currently use ...

To get non-urgent things out of my inbox I use IWantSandy. This quickly and almost effortlessly gets the tasks out of my mind and I know I can get back to them at some point. I set a category and a reminder for each item usually for Friday or Sunday. Sometimes when the reminder comes I'm too busy so I either reschedule, delete the item or delete the reminder. I check the list once every 4 weeks or so just to clean it out. This system also works very well when checking your mail froma mobile phone. 

To manage my daily weekly & schedule I currently use a hand drawn mind map which I am constantly updating as I get things done and new things come in. I am always carrying this around in my A5 loose leaf organizer. I highlight in red the most important items each day and number the order I'm going to address them. The map soon gets messy, so my next step is to make an electronic version that I can print, update by hand as needed during the week, then update the printed version once a week and start afresh. I have a statement of my long term goals at the front of my organizer so this is always the first thing I see. On the next page I have a yearly plan which is in line with my long term goals. I see these two pages before I get to my to-do list and this helps my focus on what is genuinely important.

To be honest I'm always changing my system and have not found a system that always works in every situation, although many of the systems I've used served their purpose well at the time. The solution you find will change depending on whether you are sitting at a desk all day or if you are out and about. If you spend a lot of time at a desk you may be able to reply fully on a computer based solution. (In the past I used an electronic MindManager mind map that worked very well).

Hope this is of some use. Feel free to ask questions in the comments.