Breaking Down Your Bigger Tasks

This is the second post of To-Do Lists week!

Even when you think a task that pops into your head is bigger than just one action, put it on your list. Sometimes you do not know the individual steps to get to a bigger goal. One of mine recently that I threw on my list was "Apply to graduate school". I threw it on as something that was not due in the short term, but that I still wanted to have it on my back-burner. When I had more time, I went back and replaced the task with individual tasks of the steps it takes to accomplish the bigger task. Now my to-do list says, "Fill out graduate school application", "Write essay 1 for graduate school application", "Write essay 2 for graduate school application", "Write essay 3 for graduate school application", "Get official transcript for graduate school application", "Ask for recommendations from two professors for graduate school application", and finally, "Graduate school application Due". By breaking it out into steps all the way through the due date of the application I was able to set dates to do each part. That way the task does not sit on the bottom of my to-do list until it is too late. The idea is to keep your very important tasks as underwhelming as possible.

I have even been doing this for my blog posts. For instance, I wanted to talk about how I make my to-do lists. Instead of writing one massive post that covers all the steps and tricks to making a working, manageable to-do list, I have broken it down into individual posts for each one. Not only is it much less overwhelming, but I can be done with each of my posts quicker. It is much more satisfying to have a smaller post done than no posts at all! The small wins strategy can also be very motivating. I find I am much more likely to take time out of my day for a smaller project than I would for a looming larger project. I will shy away from those every time.

So remember, keep your bigger goals on your lists until you have time to break them down into realistic steps. Set dates for the smaller tasks to work up to accomplishing that one larger goal. Use a small wins strategy to keep motivated by making the smaller tasks small enough to finish in a short amount of time. And of course give yourself a huge pat on the back every time you can cross off one of your tasks. Be proud of what you have been able to accomplish. Some people never reach their goals, so you should feel amazing about yourself when you do.

Please leave a comment if you try this for a particular project. I would love to hear about any success stories! Also, if you have a larger goal and you simply cannot come up with individual steps to reach it, comment on this post and I will gladly try and assist you.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post focusing on the how to’s of prioritizing your to-do list!