Discussing one list vs multiple and what works for you, join me to discuss this video I came across that made me think about how I structure my list.

Howdy Friends,

Welcome to a new series, I find things interesting and share them – both the source, shown below, and thoughts around this method. These will all be around productivity or planning I imagine, but I wanted to share things I find that I thought were worth sharing.

I tend to try new planning things all the time and I wanted to share how I come across those things. Sometimes its just random but the ideas are all great.

So let’s get started, the Multi-List Problem!

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0_IYB5L9Xo

I saved this video because I am a list take, I make multiple list all the time and I get this can cause problems, depending on how you organize yourself. This system creates what she calls the multi-list problem, where prioritization becomes much harder.

And this is true if you have priority level tasks and cannot easy determine at a glance what should be on your plate this week or today.

Why Multiple Lists Seem Logical

• It feels natural to separate roles and responsibilities
• Categorizing gives a sense of order
• It reduces discomfort temporarily (collapsing into one list feels overwhelming)

Why Multiple Lists Break Down

Managing multiple lists makes prioritization difficult because:

• you have to scan across several lists at once
• decision-making becomes cognitively heavy
• decision fatigue increases
• anxiety makes every item feel urgent/important
• you default to doing the easiest task for dopamine, not the most important one

She notes this leads to “being busy but not productive.”

And I agree, somewhat. I replan and reorganize pretty often – probably once a week I review and see where things are, adjust and tweak. I wouldn’t consider that a time waste, so much as a reset every week. If I was, and I have mentioned it before but rewriting my to do list the exact same each day or similar is a time waste and usually an issue around time (too busy, wrong things on the list).

She recommends using: one list for most people; or two lists if your time is structurally separated like in a at home, vs at work.

I have switched to the inbox style system as well, in using one section of a backlog of tasks I think this has helped me with rewriting goal list and has cleaned up my brain dumps so I actually feel the need to do them less often now.

I love this system for me, and I do date them.

Instead of tossing it all in one list, I have them separated out by date (i.e. JAN tasks) or if I did a project and it has a ton of lose ends, I will make one around those lose ends. It might waste more paper but by keeping them separate I can organize it better for myself IMO but its all still technically one section I keep. So February rolls around and I’ll mark it as such, and put in my goals for the month.

For me, the ideal here is to date everything and track how long things take, what I get done, and so forth. That is a big goal I am doing for 2026. Everything is getting dates. Assigned tasks at the start of the month, got the writing part done 1/3 and pictures on 1/12 and scheduled it on 1/15. All written down.

I am vibing with more info this year so I can see what gets done when, as my priorities change.

Addressing the “One List Looks Scary” Issue

People avoid the one list because it becomes long and feels like a to-do list that must be completed. To fix that, she re-frames it as:

A master backlog or

Everything competing for my time

This is a great way to look at the inbox system. There are a few I’ve seen, but I made my own template and as always, sharing it here:

I am open to ideas around this, as its not perfect but I do like this variation most, and I made a few before I settled on this variation I am currently using.

Key Insights

If you struggle with prioritization, the issue is often not prioritization skills it’s the multi-list system itself.

I think being able to prioritize is a skill we all practice and hone in on. I literally changed mine this month – its a new year and I already was swapping things out. What helped me here, cause I suffer from ‘well I can do that’ syndrome where I want to do everything, was taking a step back.

I have to repeatably tell myself if I am not wanting to do that right now, its not like I will NEVER want to do that or will never come back to it. Its really hard and it was holding me back. I felt so much guilt over these tasks on my list that I had no current interest in. I was avoiding other activities because of them (if I don’t do those things I shouldn’t do anything else until those are done).

It was silly. Such guilt. Over a sticker design.

So I gave myself permission to strike them out and move them off the list. Instead we’ll do the things I want to do right now, which is writing and art, and we’ll come back to that when we get more in the mood.

It might be an ADHD thing, but instead of any progress, these tasks were holding me hostage from my other things I did want to do. It actually took therapy to break through that so enjoy. Its insane but it’s absolutely true for me.

So I moved on, and look I wrote this instead. So progress.

Happy Planning