As many of my regular readers  may remember, last year (and up to recently) I have been using my so called disposable to-do list. However, I have taken a new approach to this in recent weeks using my Emma Bridgewater Notebook. The notebook is a nice pocket sized notebook suitable for carrying round everywhere, but prettier than the previous reporter’s notebooks.

What I do:

Each double page (ie opened pages) is a “category” of To-dos. Rather than simply list everything on the one page, I’ve split them up into categories, although we still just use a running list to record the information. This means if you want to tackle a particular type of to-do it is easy to find.  At the moment I have 2 sets of categories, the first includes things like:

• job applications
• general online
• blog
• get in contact with
• money
• sign language
• work

All of which are particular types of tasks as they relate to or are for a specific purpose. However, the second set of categories is for if I know when I want to do something. For example I have an “on the train” list for things I know I can do while passing time on the train. Another example would be if it is a big task and I can’t fit it in on a working day it gets put on my “for the weekend” list for example my current entries are:

• get my tyres checked
• fill up with petrol (post payday); and
• Paint something.

Why is this better?

This is better than the disposable to do list where you have to hunt through the list for something you can do at that moment in time. This list method allows you to select things depending on where you are or what sort of a mood you are in, without imposing any deadline restrictions as the principles of free form, striking things out and the fact you can do any thing anytime taken from the disposable to-dos still applies.

Everyone makes to-dos so complicated, over-complicated when in reality all you need to do is jot it down, this method keeps this – you are simply jotting it down, but you simply flick over the page and jot it down, starting a new category if there are no similar categories in your notebook.