Feeling frazzled? How I regained control of my To-Do list

This post was inspired by a conversation with a colleague who felt overwhelmed, venting, “There’s always 10 things I could be doing next!”  

How many of you have such a long To-Do list that, by the time you finish reading the whole list to decide what to do next, you probably could have finished a quick task?  At that point, the list is almost paralyzing.  Some people would throw their hands in the air, ditch the list, and accept living chaotically with a lot of fire fighting.  But you don’t have to!

Switching to a modified Important-Urgent matrix for my To-Do list has been a game changer for me.  It reins in the insanity, while giving me clarity on priorities.  

What is an Important-Urgent matrix?

Also known as an Eisenhower Matrix, or a Covey Matrix, it has two axes - you guessed it: Important and Urgent!  This results in the 4 quadrants Important-Urgent, Important-Not urgent, Not Important-Urgent, and Not Important-Not Urgent, as sequenced in the figure below.

How to move your To-Do list into an Important-Urgent matrix

I’m going to refer to the traditional 1-column To-Do list as a “linear” To-Do list.  

Personally, I’m very tactile.  I get a lot of satisfaction from the feeling of ink crossing out a completed item, so I use paper.  However, you could implement your matrix digitally, for example with 4 tabs in a spreadsheet (1 for each quadrant). 

Start by taking your linear To-Do list and asking yourself if each task is important and if it is urgent.  Place the task in the corresponding quadrant.  Or, if you realize that the task is so Not Important-Not Urgent that you question why you need to do it, drop it from the list altogether!

Organizing your linear To-Do list into the quadrants takes some time up front, but once you get going, classifying a new task into its quadrant is quick.

This helps you to visualize the priority of what you need to do, so that it is a little easier to decide what to do next and what you should be scheduling for the future.

Applying the Important-Urgent matrix day-to-day

After using the Important-Urgent matrix for a while, I found these modifications and considerations to be helpful:

1. I prefer listing actionable tasks so I don’t get intimidated by a big Important item. When intimidation sets in, we’re often tempted into a false sense of productivity by taking up easy Not Important items. For example, instead of “Oct blog”, I would put “Brainstorm Oct blog topics”, “Outline Oct blog”, “Write Oct blog”, “Publish Oct blog on website”, “Post to LinkedIn about Oct blog”.  

2. While Important-Urgent items are generally viewed as “do now”, in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey urges us not to spend all our time in the Important-Urgent quadrant, because that leads to burnout.  It’s crucial to set aside some time for Important-Not Urgent items, because that helps you to prevent problems that produce Important-Urgent work.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

3. Sometimes I might have Important-Not Urgent items looming that I don’t want to forget (e.g. Renew passport in November), but it’s too early to take action unless there is an unplanned opportunity (e.g. I'm stuck waiting for something, conveniently around the corner from a passport photo store).  I won’t break down those looming items yet, since that would create clutter, which produces overwhelm.  Instead, I put the currently non-actionable items at the bottom of the Important-Not Urgent quadrant, and my brain knows to just treat those as gentle reminders so they contribute to a sense of security instead of overwhelm.

4. For those using a paper To-Do list: My Important quadrants are about 3x taller than the Not Important quadrants, since I really should be minimizing the amount of time I spend on Not Important things.

Conclusion

By organizing your tasks with the Important-Urgent matrix, you can move beyond the limitations of a long, linear To-Do list and gain clear direction on what truly needs your attention. Whether you enjoy the satisfaction of crossing items off a paper list or prefer using a digital system, this method works with your preferred style, making it easier to stay focused and on track. While it takes a little initial set up, you gain more focus, better time management, and fewer last-minute scrambles. 

For deeper dives into my blog topics and useful resources related to time management and project management, subscribe to my newsletter.