![]() ![]() It had check marks and cross outs and colors to highlight important items. It had old reminders from last year, right next to brand new thoughts from that morning. ![]() It had everything on it: teaching items like “prep class”, research tasks as specific as “read paper X” and as general as “write thesis”, and personal things like “get a haircut”. I was a graduate student and my To Do List lived on an unruled 8½ by 11-inch sheet of white paper that I kept on a clipboard in my backpack. Not only does this make me more productive, but I no longer feel guilty about not finishing everything the way that I used to.īefore I learned to bring this intentionality to managing my time, I had a very unhealthy relationship with my To Do List. This process decreases my anxiety throughout the week and enables me to focus on each task as it comes. By the end of the exercise, we know exactly which tasks will be done by the end of the week, we know when we will do them, and we have consciously decided what can wait undone until next Monday. ![]() ![]() The goal of the next half hour is to take each item from our To Do List and assign it a specific time on that week’s schedule. Every Monday, I log on to a Zoom call with two other young faculty where we chat for a few minutes to catch up-what used to happen around the coffee maker-and then mute ourselves and turn our attention to our individual To Do Lists. My To Do List and I have a standing meeting every week where we reset our expectations for each other. So, tell me, Reader, how do you feel about your relationship with your To Do List? I hope that some element of my philosophy rings true for you and that whatever doesn’t fit may provide some perspective or remind you that you are not alone in having difficulties with your To Do List. I believe time management is a deeply personal skill. Strategies that work for me may or may not work for you. By Jasper Weinburd, I am a neurotypical, white, cisgender man. ![]()
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