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Career Development Denise Alexander
Whether you’re a college student, working professional, or both, juggling many different goals and responsibilities is challenging. Many people find that creating a to-do list helps them become organized, prioritize, stay on task and manage their time. While these lists are meant to help you stay focused and accomplish your goals, they can quickly become counterproductive and leave you feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, unsure of where to start or even focusing on the wrong things.
How many times have you woken up with the best intentions of getting that one thing done, only to realize you never got to it by the end of the day? You were crossing off tasks and felt like you were being productive, but by bedtime, you were still anxious or disappointed that you didn’t get it done. Whether purposefully or subconsciously, you may have been prioritizing easy or smaller tasks while avoiding more complex or important priorities.
This is why you need a good strategy. You can find an endless number of prioritization and time management methods and techniques online, such as the 1-3-5 rule of listing 1 big priority, 3 medium tasks and 5 smaller things you must get done each day.
While there are many different approaches you could take, here are a few general rules of thumb for crafting your to-do lists:
Ultimately, your to-do list is a tool that should help you prioritize and achieve goals – not create more stress. Consider whether your current to-do list approach is motivating or distracting you, and try implementing the above tips to see if they help improve your productivity.
Every person is different and what works for one may not work for another, so keep researching and adjusting until you find what’s most effective for your personality type and lifestyle. You can even look into productivity and time management books, such as “ Getting Things Done ” by David Allen or “ 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think ” by Laura Vanderkam for expert advice and tested methods.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics 2023 / Occupational Outlook Handbook 2022. BLS estimates do not represent entry-level wages and/or salaries. Multiple factors, including prior experience, age, geography market in which you want to work and degree field, will affect career outcomes and earnings. Herzing neither represents that its graduates will earn the average salaries calculated by BLS for a particular job nor guarantees that graduation from its program will result in a job, promotion, salary increase or other career growth.
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