I-JUST-THOUGHT-THIS-WAS-INTERESTING DEPT

Something we all could use--how to build a better to-do list:

*******************************************

Research shows that the average American has 10 projects they’d like to complete. That's far too many for our brains to focus on all at once, so we become overwhelmed. (It's also why certain larger to-dos tend to appear on our lists again and again. We just can't find the time to complete them.)
Want to slay those goals that never seem to get done? Here are three approaches:

Good: Categorize Your Tasks

One common faux pas people make when creating to-do lists is allowing everything from the cosmic to the mundane to intermingle. “They use the list as a catchall for everything,” says Paula Rizzo, author of the forthcoming book List-ful Thinking: Using Lists to Be More Productive. “You’re putting things you want out of life -- like 'get a new job' or 'write a book' -- alongside 'pick up milk.' All of these things jumble together and make it really tricky for your brain.”
Rizzo's advice? Organize your list by timeline. She makes a morning-of list of everything she intends to tackle in the day ahead. For long-term projects, she has a weekly list and a bucket list.

Better: Create An Action Plan

Uncompleted tasks tend to nag at us, creating intrusive thoughts that get in the way of our productivity. In fact, the nagging feeling that's specifically created by unfinished to-dos even has a scientific name: the Zeigarnik effect. The good news? According to a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, you don't have to complete your goals in order for your anxiety about them to go away. You just have to form a plan for completing them! Sounds doable, right?

Best: Go High-Tech

"Some people like to have a to-do list that's super short," says Rizzo. "You put it on a Post-it, and it’s the top five things you have to do today." But others, she says, prefer high-tech to-do lists. If that's you, options abound.
If you're obsessed with crossing things off, you might want to try using Google Tasks. It syncs with your Gmail and lets you check off to-dos as you complete them.
Are you a visual person? Pinterest is great for cataloging visual projects. “I [also] like apps such as Wunderlist and Clear,” says Rizzo. Wunderlist lets you create subtasks, set recurring to-dos and share your list with anyone (so you could, say, tackle party-planning with a friend). Clear is a rainbow-colored app controlled almost completely by swiping (e.g., you can "pinch" the list to add a new item).
It all depends on how complex your to-dos are. Rizzo is a devotee of Evernote, because it allows her to do things like scan her tax receipts and make notes in the margins of articles she’s saving.
Meanwhile, in the minimalist camp, Heidi Hanna, Ph.D, author of The Sharp Solution, recommends keeping a “just-enough list” to help you cope with overwhelm. In other words, list just the bare minimum of tasks you’d be OK with getting done each day.

****************************