Ever feel like you’re getting buried in your never-ending list of to-do’s and don’t know why it isn’t getting smaller? Let’s talk about how to crush your to-do list every week when the list just keeps growing.

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At one point my to-do list was two notebook pages long. Two. Notebook. Pages. That’s approximately 60 lines. Not including the other notes and random things scribbled in margins or written next to other line items. Which means I had at least 60 things on my to-do list. Yikes.

It was at this moment I realized that I had a problem. How could I have all of these things to do and not be getting any of them done? It’s not like I made the list and then sat down and stared at the wall.

Obviously something wasn’t working with this system, and it wasn’t me because I felt like I never stopped moving. But I could also never could quite cross anything off my list. I decided to do an audit of my to-do list and figure out how to make this work.

Since doing that, I no longer dread my to-do list and have found a great way to keep it simple without becoming an overwhelming mess (the list and me). Here’s what I figured out and how I turned my to-do list into a ta-da! list.

If the list is long, you’re feeling like it never ends, and you aren’t checking anything off of it, there’s a good chance you’re feeling overwhelmed by the list you made. I had 60 line items, other stuff in the margins, and some of the lines had more than one thing written in.

This is incredibly overwhelming and I had no idea where to even start. I just stared at the list for awhile before ultimately giving up and walking away from it. But I knew I had to figure out a way to start checking some boxes and get this thing under control so I could feel in control.

Whenever my friends are struggling with something big, I always ask them, “how do you eat an elephant?” which is usually met with staring and some stuttering before I tell them, “one bite at a time.”

Theoretically (because I would never, it’s totally meant to be a funny metaphor) eating an entire elephant would be incredibly overwhelming. How the heck would you even start? Where would you start? Well, you guys, you just start.

IF your to-do list truly is 60+ line items like mine was, then in order to get started…you have to start.

I have heard a few times from various business coaches and advice-givers that if there is something on your to-do list that takes 5 minutes or less to do, and you have 5 minutes right now…you should just do it.

So this is where I suggest starting. Go through your list line by line and find something that takes 5 minutes or less. I promise if you have 60+ lines, there is SOMETHING living in that list that doesn’t take you long to do, it’s just hiding in between all the other stuff.

In fact, most basic household chores don’t take very long at all. I timed myself once unloading the dishwasher because I found myself pushing off this particular task, trying to convince myself that I didn’t have time right now. Do you know how long it took me? 4 minutes.

That includes actually drying them off with a towel, not just on my pants (IYKYK). I was making this super easy, boring household chore out to be a much bigger deal than it was. Now, when I need a quick win, I go straight for the dishwasher.

This is also such a great way to remove some of the overwhelm because it’s an easy first step. You aren’t starting with some massive project undertaking, just a simple five minute task and a quick win that you can cross off that list!

Now that you’ve got a quick win under your belt (way to go, by the way!) and some momentum to keep going, it’s time to prioritize.

If everything is important, then nothing is important. Which is why a giant to-do list is more unproductive than it is productive. It’s time to decide what absolutely has to get done today.

I don’t know about you, but there is no way I would be able to tackle a 60+ line item to-do list even if I was by myself for an entire day with zero interruptions or distractions. It ain’t happen’, I promise.

I suggest grabbing a highlighter (or a different colored pen) and choosing the five most important things that you must get done today given the time you think you have and the resources you have with which to do them.

For example, on a Monday morning, things you will not find on my highlighted lines would be “paint the banister,” “build garage shelving for holiday totes,” or “reorganize the kitchen pantry.” Girl, those are weekend projects when you have a second set of eyes and hands to help with children like your spouse or sister or friend, or even a set of grandparents that will remove them from your home entirely.

Things you will find on my Monday morning to-do list are easy wins and things that I know I can get done coming off of a weekend and getting back into a routine, such as “water the house plants,” “wash towels,” “make protein balls” (get my recipe here), “prep Viv’s daily activities for the rest of the week” and “next week dinners menu.”

These are items I can work on between playing with Viv, fit in quickly while she has a snack or lunch, and even during nap time while I catch up on the latest episode of the show I’m currently watching.

Cross off your five things each day as you finish them, and then the next day choose five more with your highlighter. Soon your list will shrink and you won’t feel so dazed at the size of the list.

If you want to take a step further, sometimes when my list does get a little out of hand, I’ll grab my planner and choose five things for each day of the week, and two for each day on the weekend, so I have it all planned out and I know what I’m going to tackle the entire week, day by day.

Saturday afternoons and Sundays are my time with my family. My husband works a lot during the week, and this is the time I block off so we can all come together and connect. I protect it with my entire being, and you should too for anything you hold sacred. Your standing mani/pedi on Wednesday afternoon, happy hour on Thursdays with the girls, brunch with your sisters…whatever it is.

This is why I only plan two things for each day versus five for weekdays. Those two things are usually things I can squeeze in quickly in the morning or I can start and come back to here and there throughout the day in pockets of time.

Just make sure you’re being realistic when you plan them out. Don’t take your sacred time and fill it with to-do’s or you’re going to feel even worse, and resentful, about doing them. And, when the time comes to do them, you probably won’t do them and you’ll be back to where you started. With nothing done.

If your weekends tend to be busy or filled with social events, sports tournaments, or birthday parties, or if you leave town most weekends, consider leaving it open and scheduling nothing for the weekend.

Instead, use it as “slush” space for anything you need to wrap up that you might not have finished during the week, so that next week you’re still on track and have a clean slate with nothing carrying over from the week before.

If you’re anything like me, you probably have some pretty hefty projects on that list of yours. Things like painting closets (or bedrooms), cleaning out the garage, cleaning out the gutters, landscaping, refacing kitchen cabinets, replace entryway flooring, add shelves to the office…

These are projects that do require some big chunks of time, tend to be messy, and probably cost money. So, if any of those are factors in your to-do’s, you need to plan ahead for them.

I’ve done this a couple of different ways so that they don’t just live on my to-do list all the time, which feels really defeating having several lines that just can’t be crossed off.

The first way I’ve done this is to plan one big project once a month. Choose a day in the month (I like a Friday) where you can devote your entire day to completing this project. If you know it will take more than a day, plan on days that work best for you and your family.

I am no stranger to painting rooms during the week, when hardware stores aren’t as busy, kids are in school, and husband is at work. Crank the tunes and go to town. However, if you do need help with whatever you’re working on, consider dropping kiddos off at your sister’s house for the day so you and your spouse can knock out as much as possible without interruption or distraction.

If it’s a financial situation and you need to make sure you have the funds available to tackle the project, step one is to figure out how you’re paying for it first before making plans to tackle the expensive project.

Then, once you have the money ready to spend, pull out the calendar and choose some time to tackle the project.

The other way I’ve done this is to have an entirely separate list for big ticket to-do’s. I call it my Big Ticket To-Do list. Makes sense, right? 😉

This list is made up of entirely large projects that I define by taking more than one day to complete. Most of the house projects or renovation things go on this list. Once a month, I peek at it and see if there’s anything I can tackle for the upcoming month or if there happens to be anything I can cross off due to change of plans or because it got done sooner than I expected.

It keeps my every day to-do list from being too crowded and makes it feel more realistic to achieve my entire to-do list rather than have a few squatters on lines that will be there for an undetermined amount of time.

If you are really struggling to get started, set a timer for yourself. When the timer goes off, get up and start knocking out your five that you chose as priority today.

Deadlines create psychological motivation because you’re adding a sense of urgency (Rosseinsky, 2023). Your brain knows that once that timer goes off, it’s time to get stuff done.

You could also do a reverse version of this and set a timer for 25-30 minutes (or however long you have available to you) and get as much done in that time frame as possible.

You would not believe how motivating this is because, again, your brain raises the priority of getting things done knowing the deadline is approaching. But you have to set the timer. Don’t trust yourself to watch the clock.

It also gets you started, which is honestly the hardest step sometimes. Once you start, you can just keep going down the list, or at least knock out your five daily to-do’s that you chose.

I hope you find these suggestions helpful in turning your to-do list into a ta-da! list (aka to-done list). It’s always challenging trying to figure out how to make all the things of daily life work together harmoniously, which is why I like this system. It’s a formula I can use again and again–literally daily–that is effective and makes me feel way less intimidated by whatever is on my list.

The last piece of advice I have for you is this: Do not be one of those people who adds something onto their to-do list that you’ve already done, just so you can cross it off (yes, you in the back, I can see you trying to cover your face).

In my experience, the urge to do that comes from overwhelm in starting your actual to-do’s. Try breaking it down like I talked about using a highlighter to choose your top five things that must be done today, and do anything that takes under 5 minutes first.

Happy ‘ta-da’ing! Until next time,