The biggest problem with most to-do lists, I find, is that there's a tendency to write down goals instead of tasks. Tasks are simply actions that you do in orde

The biggest problem with most to-do lists, I find, is that there's a tendency to write down goals instead of tasks. Tasks are simply actions that you do in order to reach your goals. Writing down goals is important, but they should be kept separately. The problem with writing down your goals in your to-do list is that you then see items like this: * Plan fundraiser and * Fix bug that occasionally crashes server randomly instead of * Call restaurant to confirm date and rates * Select menu items for caterer * Write donation tax receipt for Mr. Smith's donation and * Find the bug (probably some problem with the new database sharding) * Write unit test for the fix * Fix bug * Write description of patch and submit to code review The second one may be a bit overkill, but you get the idea. In my experience, 90% of to-do list problems can be solved by making the items actionable as opposed to simply reminders of one's goals.