---
title: "A simple, stress-free way to keep a to-do list"
author: "Stan Voo"
url: https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/a-simple-stress-free-to-do-list
published: 2011-11-28
summary: "A diary that mixes dated appointments with everyday tasks breeds stress. Split them, drop the dates, and the list stops nagging you."
---

# A simple, stress-free way to keep a to-do list

*This post is meant for beginners in time management.*

We're used to thinking that if you want to write your tasks down, it has to be in a diary: a list of tasks broken down by date, saying when each one needs doing.

What happens in reality? We don't manage to do most of the tasks by the set date, so we rewrite them onto other days, or come back to them later when we get around to it.

I think a diary like that only breeds stress and doesn't help much with work. Its problem is that it mixes two planning tools: tracking things tied firmly to a date or time, and keeping a general task list.

Here's what I suggest to people just starting with time management:

1. Keep things that must be done on a **specific date or at a specific time in a separate calendar**. Unless you're a teacher or a tutor, you actually have few of these: birthdays and anniversaries of all kinds, holidays, trips, maybe quarterly reports and meetings with friends planned in advance. [Google Calendar](https://www.google.com/calendar/) serves me perfectly for this. Though you can also use a paper diary or a reminder on your phone.
2. Use a simple **undated notebook** (an exercise book will do) for the general task list.
3. **Don't number your tasks**: let the list run on continuously.
4. Once again: **drop the dates** (everything tied to a date lives in the other list, remember?).
5. Write **every task down, one after another**, without thinking about how important it is and without setting priorities.
6. Cross out the tasks you've done, and regularly review the ones you haven't (*tip:* many "fall away" on their own after a while).

Once you get rid of dates, writing tasks into the notebook gets easier: they won't "stress you out" by having to be done when planned. If writing them down is easier → you're less likely to forget something important. I wrote [about the importance of writing down all your ideas](https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/writing-down-your-ideas) long ago (and I'm not the only one).

None of these recommendations are mine: they're based on the advice of [Mark Forster](http://www.markforster.net), set out in [*Do It Tomorrow and Other Secrets of Time Management*](http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-Other-Secrets-Time-Management/dp/0340909129/ref=sr11?ie=UTF8\&qid=1322436285\&sr=8-1) and in his [Autofocus](http://ifiremember.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post_20.html "An amateur Russian translation of the method") system. But if you're not ready to dig into those depths of time management yet, just try the recommendations above. They helped me a lot.