Productivity is engrained in our society. We’re taught that when we’re productive, we should feel accomplished and proud.

There is always something to get done, always something to achieve. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with chores, tasks, bills, schedules, and everything else we have to balance.

That’s why I believe making to-do lists is such a simple, yet logical way to keep life organized. As long as I can remember my grandpa has made a daily to-do list. Sometimes it will be a mile long with everything he hopes to complete that day. He’s very ambitious. Sometimes he gets to everything done and some days bullet points on the list get pushed back to tomorrow. He’s also realistic.

Regardless if everything gets done that day, the list serves as a daily guide. Watching my grandpa meticulously write a to-do list every for years has taught me that to-do lists dramatically increase productivity for a couple of reasons.

Daily to-do lists organize your thoughts

When there are a dozen things that need to be completed that day, it’s common to feel overwhelmed, stressed, and just all over the place. Making a daily to-do list organizes all those tasks, which helps structure thoughts about those tasks. You can even write the chores in the order you need to do them, making your day that much more organized.

Daily to-do lists make tasks less overwhelming

Each day when I feel like I have 101 things I need to get done and I make a list, I usually notice that a couple things on the list will only take me a few minutes. Seeing the tasks for the day makes them much more approachable. And once I start completing tasks and checking them off, the list dwindles and I realize maybe I didn’t have as much to do as I thought I did before I wrote everything down. It’s so satisfying.

Daily to-do lists provide a sense of accomplishment

It’s no secret that productive members of our society are celebrated. It feels nice to achieve things. We have to start somewhere and why shouldn’t we start with our daily tasks? I’ve even put mundane things on the list before like eat lunch and take a shower. Things that I was certainly going to do no matter what, so might as well put them on the list to have the satisfaction of crossing them off. Then when we get to the big things on the list crossing them off provides even more gratification.

Daily to-do lists are helpful. They provide structure and organization for the day, they make chores less daunting, and they’re satisfying to complete. Do you make to-do lists often?