How to Make To-Do Lists You'll Actually Use

I'm an "artsy" person. You know the type. Daydreamy, whimsical, kind of really really awful at doing all of the things that I need to do to get organized. Has a sneaking suspicion that grades aren't really a good measure of success. Tendency toward the counterculture, with hipster sympathies.

But when I got my first two jobs, I realized that my old standby of "I forgot" really wouldn't cut it anymore. Somehow, the knowledge that I could be fired did a lot more than all the frowning of college professors - in school, you just make it up by acing all the tests. When that's not an option, suddenly the familiar "uh oh... I was supposed to what?" becomes "uh oh... can I make rent now?"

But how to keep track of to-do lists? They're boring and just one more thing to remember! Well, you might only have so much willpower during the day. If you waste it on your task list, that's probably counter-productive.

So you have to be sneaky and trick yourself - make your list fun and attractive.
Try everything. Preferably for a week or more, unless you are really convinced that you hate a particular system. I used Wunderlist (whimsical yet traditional), an Excel spreadsheet (very official looking), notebooks (portable, and I like writing in notebooks, but easy to forget/lose), a planner (reminds me too much of school) and even a whiteboard (satisfying to cross stuff off, not portable) to learn my personal style.


Ultimately, I found that I need a couple of things from a list. It needs to be pretty, and it needs to be funny. So I set up a private Tumblr blog called "To Do: Figure out Life."
I customized it to be very self-indulgently colorful and whimsical, and gave myself permission to be funny in my entries; it's combination task list and journal for all of the little details that probably wouldn't make it into a real journal entry. (See below for an example)

What's your personal style? Don't know? Take a look at the blogs and comics and news and podcasts that you consume regularly. Which ones are your favorites, the ones that excite you the most and make you happy when they update? Why do you like those ones? Do they have an informative, solid, dependable tone? An artistic and/or inspiring tone? Lots of quotes and pictures? Do you like narratives?

The blogs I like to read are usually light-hearted, with a sense of humor tending toward the sardonic.
So a to-do list might look like this:

1. Wake up at 5:10. Ugh.
   -Stupid daylight savings.
2. Work 5:30-7:30
   -Check
3. Work on social media job
   -Check
4. Cry a little. Kidding (mostly).
5. Do yoga
6. Take a shower
7. Conversely, sleep.
8. Breakfast: Stir fry.
9. Instead of doing any of that: worked, took a 2 hour nap, woke up with a headache. Awwww yay-ah.
10. Work 10-12
    -Go to Rendevous or Macey’s for work. You really need a change of scenery and something yummy to help you work. Maybe even Biff’s, I bet they don’t close before 1...?
    -Check. Mmmmmm, hipster pastries.
11. Work on your novel
12. Go to the bank
    -Check. Also, check deposited. Booyah.

Like anything, you have to give yourself permission to fail, or you'll get discouraged. I started making the lists before going to bed. If I forgot, that was ok. Now, since I have a job that starts at 5:30 am, I tend to make them in the morning. Whenever works best for you. I don't cross everything off, either. It's ok if you forget sometimes - as long as your lists are interesting to you, you won't forget every time.

Basically, you can either try and force yourself to use a list you don't like, or work with yourself and trick yourself into doing what you're supposed to do and enjoy it. So take the time to figure out how to keep yourself interested - it'll help a lot in the future.