Throughout my academic journey I have tried everything to stay organized: google calendar, reminders, bullet journaling, sticky notes on my computer, etc. More recently I have taken up a simple, physical to-do list. My brother bought me a cute Koya notebook, and each half-page is dedicated to all the tasks I want to complete before my necessary beauty sleep. Some days I finish all my tasks, other days I do not. I am curious as to the effectiveness and psychology behind the well-loved to-do lists. In today’s blog, I will share my findings about the benefits of having a to-do list…and maybe some drawbacks.
- Prioritization
When writing down a list of tasks that must be done, it is easy to get caught up in the small tasks like “eat lunch” or “brush teeth before dinner”, however, prioritizing is a vital step. Only write down imminent and uncommon tasks on your to-do list. Such as the homework you have to do rather than noting that you have to attend school. It is more straightforward to recognize which undertakings are most important when they are written down.
For instance, I have homework for both gym class and calculus, but when written down I put down a star next to the calculus homework for emphasis. Having my focus drawn to the more difficult assignment forces me not to give in to the temptation to do other, low-priority tasks. Another strategy I have noticed is writing the most significant or difficult tasks first and as the list goes down, the complexity of the tasks does as well. My brother, Zain, utilizes this technique in medical school so that the workload lightens as he goes down his list, making time go by faster. With either method, your simple to-do list becomes more than just a grocery list, it turns into a strategic game plan!
- Accountability
It is hard to slack off in gym class if your coach is staring right at you, isn’t it? It is the same ideology when having a to-do list, it’s hard to deny that you have work to be done when the work is staring back at you as a reminder. Personally, as someone prone to the wrath of forgetting, having a to-do list recently has helped me greatly. I cannot forget about the AP Statistics Test when “STUDY FOR STATS” is shouting at me through the pages. It also allows one to forget what they have to do, instead of subconsciously racking their brain all day you only have to remember to check your to-do list.
- Stress
What happens when one task is left undone? Sometimes, having an incomplete task staring back at you can cause more anxiety than motivation. I have experienced the displeasure of having homework piling up on my shoulders, in fact, it causes me to lose sleep. Even though I swear that I will wake up early the next morning to get it done, I still end up waking up every hour frantically checking the time for it only to be 2 am. Having an overwhelmingly long list can end up making one feel like they have a never-ending amount of work to get done. That is why it is extremely important to prioritize your workload. It is not realistic to write down “Do the entire UC school application” for one day. Split it up into multiple, smaller tasks. Such as, finishing the activities section one day and writing an outline for an essay the next.
The Psychology Behind the To-Do List
The real reason I wanted to write this blog about to-do lists is that I am fascinated by the science and psychology behind their effectiveness. Thanks to Mr. Scott, I recently learned about short-term memory and reinforced memorization. Did you know that an average human’s short-term memory can hold 7 pieces of information for about half a minute. So if you have more than 7 important things to get done in one day….I have some bad news for you. Thankfully, I have a solution that I may have been discussing this entire blog – a to-do list!
Another interesting fact about your brain is how you unconsciously remember information. Most likely every time you look at your list, your brain reinforces the information that you have read and it transcends past just short-term memory. This also relates to Ebbinghaus’s Forgetting Curve, essentially the more time spent between reviews the less information retained. So if you have a to-do list that you often refer back to, then it is more likely you will not forget the tasks you have to do when you are not looking at it.
I encourage everyone who took the time to read this blog to write down the next homework assignment you have to complete, maybe you’ll even have a notebook full of finished tasks by the end of this year!