Daily, Weekly or Monthly lists

The following proposal is about adding time dimensions to to-do lists.

The simplest variant is to simply sort tasks into a suitable time unit in which they are completed. For example, this could mean listing the tasks that need to be completed by the end of the week from a general to-do list at the start of each week.

Especially those who find it difficult to estimate the time required correctly can learn a lot about themselves if, for example, weekly and daily lists are combined: Create a weekly list as described above. Tasks are then transferred from this list to the next day. At the end of the first day, any remaining tasks are first transferred to the list for day 2 and only then are new tasks transferred from the weekly list. Click on the image to open the template for a weekly plan (pdf) that contains daily plans.

To have a better overview for larger projects (e.g. homework) or special phases (e.g. exam preparation), monthly lists or lists for several weeks are helpful. The procedure would be the same as between weekly and daily lists.

Prioritizing and structuring

Of course, all these forms can also be combined with prioritization (e.g. from ALPEN-method or Eisenhower-matrix), color codes can be used for topics or prioritization... there is also room to get creative here. If you have (developed) a good feeling for what takes up how much time, you can also try to keep weekly and daily lists "independently" of each other. This means: larger tasks are only put on the weekly list as an overall result, the daily lists conversely only include what is due/can be done on that day. However, both lists must always be kept in view. The advantage: tasks are sorted, at least in terms of scope.