Struggling to Manage Your To-Do List? This Tiny Change Will Get You On Top of Your Workload Once and for All

You're doing everything right.

• You have a to-do list.

• It's up-to-date.

• Everything has a due date.

Then how come deadlines still seem to take you by surprise, and you end up rushing to complete things on time?

You have a due date problem.

While it is important to record the date a task or project is due (the deadline), you must also schedule a time to do the work. This is your task's do date. (You might prefer to call it a next action date, as that, at least, sounds different when you say it!)

You need two dates: a due date and a do date. Record the due date but schedule the do date.

If you use a digital to-do list, some tools allow you to create a field for each date. Customisable tools like Notion make this easy.

Or, you can write your deadline as part of the task's title or in a text field; for example:

Write an article about to-do lists (due 25 April).

Then schedule the do date.

Do dates provide a realistic picture of your workload; they make time blocking easier and help you get things done.

P.S. I’m currently developing a new online course called Master Your To-Do List: A Practical Task Management Course For Busy People. If you think this is something you might be interested in, please add your email address to my waiting list, and I’ll email you when the course is ready. There’s no commitment; however, if you decide to purchase the course, I’ll make sure you get a nice discount to thank you for your early interest 💛