Project template
To-do list template: how to keep today's list short
Keep today's list short and the rest of the week in its place, then tick it off in the planner.
- 5 sections
- 10 tasks
- Opens as a list
- Dated from day 1
To-do list
Days count from the day you start. In the app, pick a start or a finish date and each task lands on a real day.
Today
- Example: pay the electricity billDay 1Urgent
- Example: call the dentist to move the appointmentDay 1, 10:00High
- Example: finish the slides for ThursdayDay 1, 14:00High
This week
- Example: book the car serviceDay 3
- Example: reply to the school about the trip formDay 4
- Example: buy a birthday present for MumDay 5
Later
- Example: sort the photos from the summer
- Example: look up evening classes
Waiting on
- Example: the refund from the airlineAsked on Monday. Chase it on Friday if nothing comes.
Every Friday
- Clear the list: tick off, move or delete what is leftEvery Friday 17:00
What's in it
A to-do list works when it tells you what to do next. This one sorts every task by when it needs doing, so today stays short and the rest waits in its place.
- Today
- Three tasks with the top priority. When they are done, the day went well.
- This week
- Tasks with a day, so each one turns up on the day it is due.
- Later
- Things worth keeping that don't have a day yet.
- Waiting on
- What someone else owes you, with a note on when to chase it.
- Every Friday
- Ten minutes to clear what is left, so the list stops growing.
Tips from the template
- Keep Today to three tasks you can finish. Add more only when those are done.
- Write each task as the next thing you do: "email Sam the dates", not "holiday".
- On Friday, move what is left of This week to next week or to Later.
How to use it in Palby Planner
- 1Open Tasks and choose Templates.
- 2Find To-do list and open it. You see every section and task before anything is added.
- 3Pick the day you start, or the day it has to be done by. Every date moves with it.
- 4Press Use template. Rename the project, then work down the list.
More ways to run a to-do list
Empty your head onto one list in ten minutes, then sort it: today, this week, calls, errands, ideas, and what is on your mind.
7 sections, 10 tasksSort every task by urgent and important into four sections: do it now, schedule it, hand it off, or drop it.
5 sections, 8 tasksYour top three for today as a checklist, then the schedule, the smaller jobs, notes and a two-line look back.
5 headingsClear an overgrown task list in one sitting: move it all aside, keep what still matters, and start again clean.
4 sections, 11 tasksA list sorted the way the shop is laid out, so one walk round gets everything and nothing gets forgotten.
7 sections, 21 tasksA personal kanban board: to do, doing with a limit of three, done. See your work and stop starting new things.
4 sections, 5 tasks
Questions
A short list for today, a place for the rest of the week, somewhere for things with no date yet, and a list of what you're waiting on. Each task needs a clear next step and, if it has one, a date. This one has all four, plus a Friday clear-out.
Pick three for today and put them first. Everything else waits until those are done. If two things feel equally urgent, sort them by urgent and important.
Usually because nothing ever leaves it. The Friday task is there for that: tick off what's done, give what's left a new day, and delete what you won't do.
Yes. Print prints only the template, and Copy puts it on your clipboard as a checklist. Neither needs an account.
Open Tasks, choose Templates and find To-do list. You see every section and task before anything is added, then press Use template.
Today's list, short and in one place.
Book a walkthrough to see the to-do list in the planner.