Listen to episode 10 on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify.

We know the todo list cycle all too well.

You have a hundred things rattling around in your brain, so you write out a massive list out on a piece of paper, and then jump into frenzied action.

But you feel like you’re spinning your wheels, like you are working all the time, and still have so much to do and can’t get ahead of the todo list that grows faster than you can manage.

The Problem with Todo Lists

Todo lists tend to fragment your focus. Alone, they can never be the time-management strategy you need to organize your tasks within the context of your week. Todo lists encourage you to take action, but it is most often un-prioritized action, meaning you will never make progress on the things that actually matter most to you.

Todo lists also don’t enable you to see the greater context of your productivity. When you look at a todo list, you see that you’ve either completed a task or you haven’t. Your todo list can’t tell you why your task is still unfinished. All it can offer is that sense of deflation as you contemplate that another day has passed and it’s still sitting on your list.

How to Tame Your Todo List

But this doesn’t mean your intuition to write a massive todo list is a bad one.

In fact, your impulse to do so is your brain begging you to declutter it of all the details you’re trying to juggle solo.

Your intuition to write a massive todo list is good. 

Getting everything out of your head onto paper in messy, non-organized, braindumping fasion is actually the first step to becoming more productive and efficient. So instead of tearing up your todo list, you need a strategy for how to tame it.

This guide will teach you the rest of the steps you need to sort your massive todo list into an effective plan of action—using the Evergreen Planner.

This PDF even includes a bonus printable version of the Evergreen Planner so that anyone can follow along and finally get organized.

With this guide, you will…

  • Prep your planner (or free planner pages) for maximum effectiveness
  • Declutter your brain with a massive braindump
  • Sort, purge and prioritize your todo list
  • Timeblock your tasks into the context of your existing schedule
  • Learn how to select top-targets so you can make progress every day without burning out

Listen to our podcast episode (on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify) to learn more about how we tame our todo lists (+ for a special discount code for our Taming Your Todo List Guide!).