When you first imagined your freelance career, most likely you had envisioned a day full of productive work at the comfort of your perfect home office.

In reality… You awake with the intentions to accomplish a large list of tasks – but at the end of the day, very little was actually crossed-off.

Sound familiar?

If you’re nodding your head – then continue on reading while I explain how a simple to-do list can help boost your productivity.

There are countless task management apps for your desktop or smart phone; however, I seem to do well with an old-fashioned pencil and paper. (I enjoy using a simple reporter’s notebook)

Preparing Your To-Do List For Productivity

• The night before or first thing in the morning, write out your to-dos for the day.
• Review the previous day tasks and move over any that were unfinished.
• Prioritize your list by importance if needed.
• Complete as many tasks one by one throughout the day, and any that aren’t accomplished carry over to the next day’s list.

(Jeff Sheldon from Ugmonk shares the same method I like to use in his post Getting Things Done. I think his post is well worth a read and I couldn't have explained it any better myself.)

Using Goals to Achieve More

Try adding a long-term goal and/or personal development task to your to-do list.This will help you achieve more, strengthen your own skills, and help make progress on those larger tasks in life – whatever they may be.