To Do List Hack: Configure a Brain Dump Inbox
Do you have mom brain like I do? My brain is always moving and does not turn off until I fall asleep at night. My to do list is the brain dump that holds everything for me so that I don’t have to remember all the kid activities, housework items, broken this, calls for that, and I can just dump it and know it’ll be there for me later.
I love to keep my items categorized and organized, but sometimes I just need to dump something in it and deal with it later. To do this, I use a folder in my to do list app called “Inbox”. Toodledo (this is an affiliate link!), my to do list app, has a feature where you can default attributes of a new item to specific values.
For now, I am automatically defaulting three fields when I quickly add an item to my to do list.
First, I set the Folder to Inbox. I have several Folders that I sort my to do list items into. I use the “Inbox” folder so that I can easily pull up any items that I have dropped on my list without reviewing.
I also default the priority of every newly added to do item to “Top”, which is the highest priority in my to do list application. The item may not be a “Top” priority item, but this allow me to keep this item at the top of my list so that it doesn’t get lost before I can sort it and put it in the correct priority.
Finally, the third item I default is the due date. I’m struggling right now with how to handle “due dates” for my to do items. I don’t want everything I possibly want to do today to be due today as this makes my to do list way too long. However, I also do not want to lose sight of any items. For now, I default my new items to due today so that I make sure I review them today at some point.
Mom brains are full of so many to dos and reminders that getting them into a to do list is a must. If you use an electronic to do list application, I recommend you look into the settings and determine if you can tweak the defaults for when you quickly add tasks. This will save you time and also help prevent any task loss.
What to do systems are you using? Are you able to easily drop tasks into it as soon as you think of one? I love hearing about new to do systems. Hopefully this tip helps you keep on top of those mom brain dumps.
