To-Do Notes

Okay, so you’ve finally gotten the whole time management thing down. You know everything you need to accomplish and when. But as you may or may not have noticed, the real key to getting yourself to buckle down and get things done, is knowing the detail behind each task that needs to be accomplished. For instance, you may have a pie chart done for a large project you need to do, and each part of the assignment has a labeled due date. For instance, a paper may have a chart which labels the date the first, second, and final drafts are due. But I, and many others I know, find that unless I know exactly what I need accomplished right in front of me, I’m still likely to blow off the assignment. However, if I see everything I need to do in detail, I’m more likely to get it done. This might not seem to make sense, considering that all the detail written out would end up looking like significantly more work, but it actually works to my advantage. By seeing each detail written out, I prove to myself that it’s not as overwhelming as it looks. The individual details written out make the parts seem feasible, which in turn will get me to finish each part, which gets the whole task done.

With this in mind, the “to-do notes” note-taking strategy is a perfect way to get yourself on track with assignments. The notes involve a chart split into three sections. A second straight down the side of the page for directions for the assignment, the first half of the other side of the page is materials and sources needed, and the second half of the other side of the page is for reminders. I most recently used the “to-do notes” in my social work class for an agency assignment. This project has several parts to it. First part is an interview with a social worker in an agency near Syracuse University. Second part is the reflection of that interview. Lastly, a presentation about your specific experience with your agency. When I received the instructions for this project, I immediately made myself a pie chart with due dates for the interview, reflection, and presentation. Then, I used the “to-do notes” to break down each part of the assignment. The interview had it’s own components, the questions, answers, reflection, presentation, etc. After everything was written out, I broke it down for myself even more. I split up the small tasks into categories. Although they were already split into directions, materials and sources, and reminders, I highlighted each detail that had to do with another in the same color. This way, I knew how many individual tasks I needed to do for each section of the assignment. By having all of this in front of my face, I was able to get myself to start each detail of the assignment more easily, and therefore finish the entire assignment without walking away.