A List of Lists to Help You Live

By Marissa Burr

If your brain is wired similarly to mine, seeing a new planner or calendar design brings you an immeasurable amount of joy. Sticky notes, pads of paper, gel pens, highlighters, and stationary also have the same effect on me. Because of this, I have a lot of list outlines at my disposal and not enough things to fill them with. My most used products tend to come from Noted by Post It.

Lists are important to me and help me keep my entire life organized. People in my life sometimes call me crazy for the sheer amount of lists I make in a day, but it’s because they don’t understand how much they help me stay on track.

The three below are ones that I deem the most important to staying on track and avoiding unwanted stress. All of these can be jotted down on a simple post-it-note or carefully designed on a custom pad. The choice is yours.

• Daily To-Do

When people think about lists, this is commonly recalled. There’s a reason for that: It’s classic and useful. These can be made at the beginning of the week, the night before, or the morning of. I prefer making them before bed the previous night. That way I can wake up knowing exactly what I need to accomplish that day and I can review each task over breakfast. Depending on the amount of time you have that day, the list size will vary.

For an average day where you’re completing tasks in between work, classes, or events, I like to stick to the post-it-note rule. If when writing each job out, you run out of room on the sticky note, then you are trying to squeeze too many jobs into one day and the odds of it all getting done goes down. That will only lead to frustration and disappointment. Instead, try and prioritize the top five things you believe need to get done in the time you have that day. A more manageable list means a greater chance of success.

If you have a day off though and have decided to dedicate it to getting a large amount of things done because you have the free time, your daily to-do list will look a little different. I like to split this list up into morning, afternoon, and evening and sort tasks into different time periods. This also helps ensure that I don’t accidentally skip a meal because I get busy. Eating is added to the list of jobs to avoid being forgotten. I can keep organized this way, especially when some tasks need to be done before others such as running to the post office or doing laundry. Washing the laundry obviously needs to be done before drying it. The post office closes in the evening so this would be something I need to complete in the morning or afternoon. These all-day lists can be longer, but it is important to keep your expectations in check when writing them. Just because you have all day to do your jobs, doesn’t mean you can fit fifty different ones into a twelve hour time span. Be realistic in order to avoid disappointment.

• Weekly To-Do

This one may seem like just an extended version of its daily counterpart but it’s got a little more to it. When I write up one of these it’s a broad list with not too many details. I start with a planner page or another paper with separate spots for each day of the week. Then I’ll write in classes, work shifts, doctors appointments and other scheduled events that I need to attend. Then I will add in any papers, tests, or other items that have due dates and I should complete them by that point. Finally, birthdays and holidays are written in. This helps me have a detailed visual guide to what my week will look like so I can reference it when I need to decide when to complete a task. For example, if I have a paper due Wednesday but the day before I have a work shift and two classes to attend, I’ll plan to write the paper on Monday in order to ensure that I’m not crunched for time. After all of this information has been put in, I’ll make a small list next to it with any tasks that need to be done that week such as calling a doctor or completing an assignment. I can then work off of this list each day when I’m making a daily to-do list and I won’t have to worry about forgetting anything.

• Monthly Calendar

This is a simple list, but just like the weekly one is broader than the daily, this monthly calendar is the most broad list I make. I have a few calendars that I use interchangeably in my life and I’ve found that having three different ones work best for me.

The first one is a dry-erase board calendar that I have in my office at home. I live with my significant other, so this calendar holds both of our classes, appointments, events, and anything that affects both of us or would keep us away from the apartment. It is a great reference tool when one of us gets home and has forgotten where the other is; it eliminates the need for texts that the other person may not even be able to answer. It’s also a nice visual for how busy the month is going to be for us.

The second calendar is the Google Calendar on my phone. This holds all of my personal appointments and events with descriptions of time, place, and any other specifics needed. It is the most detailed of the three monthly calendars, that way when I click on the event I can have access to all the information regarding it. It’s also easy to make repeating events such as classes or tutoring sessions. The color coding option is also a favorite of mine.

The third calendar I keep updated is the one located in my academic planner. For the most part, the information written in has to deal with school and assignments surrounding it. I can write about events listed in the college calendar and any important dates that professors will mention in their syllabi or during a lecture. I will include outside obligations as well, depending on whether they’d affect school.

It may seem excessive to have this many of the same type of calendar but it leads to them not being overcrowded with details or events that don’t correlate with each other. I also keep these color coded so as to train my brain to connect a color with a different part of my life (example, everything for school is written in orange). I’ve found that the more organized my life feels, the better prepared I am for the days ahead, and if I can in any way ease the stress that a full schedule brings, I will do it. Find the lists or methods that work for you.