Make a Better To-Do List With the 1-3-5 Method

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No matter what kind of productivity goals you have and which techniques you plan to use to get it all done, you still probably start with a to-do list. Learning to formulate a solid to-do list is the key first step to being productive, since you need it to move on to other planning stages, like using the Eisenhower matrix to prioritize tasks or Kanban to organize them. And to make a good to-do list, try using the 1-3-5 rule, which is designed to keep your daily schedule more manageable—and thus more achievable.

What is the 1-3-5 rule of productivity?

The 1-3-5 rule acknowledges that in a typical day, you just don’t have time to do it all. What you do reasonably have time for is one major task, three medium-sized tasks, and five little ones. If you try to cram more than that into an average day, the quality of your work will suffer and you'll end up wasting your precious, finite time. There will, of course, be days when you have no choice but to do too much, but 1-3-5 is designed for your regular routine. (Besides, a little stress pushing you to complete your tasks every once in a while can be a good thing.)

These nine tasks can be related or they can be separate, depending on your own needs. For instance, a big task might be going to meet with your financial advisor, which is unrelated to your three mid-sized tasks: grocery shopping, preparing for a meeting at work, and picking up a gift for a friend’s birthday. Small tasks can be anything from answering emails to laying out your outfits for the week, depending on what you consider large, medium, and small, but they're usually things that require less thought, resources, and time.

Used another way, the rule can also apply to major tasks and involve batching them into smaller groups. Say you’re planning a vacation. The 1-3-5 rule can help you break up everything you need to do. The big task can be booking flights and hotel accommodations. Three medium tasks might be getting tickets to whatever you’ll be doing while you’re at the destination, shopping for what you’ll need, and securing a pet sitter. Little tasks can be anything from setting an OOO to emailing your travel partners the itinerary. 

You can combine 1-3-5 with other productivity techniques, especially when you're focusing all nine tasks toward a bigger goal or project. For instance, one producivity hack involves "theming" every day so it's devoted solely to one type of work. Using 1-3-5 alongside it can help you stay on top of the most pressing needs related to that day's work.

How to use the 1-3-5 rule to be more productive

Start each day with a brain dump, writing down every single thing you have to do for the day in no order other than how fast you remember them. You'll prioritize them later. Once everything is down on the paper, make note of anything especially timely. Here’s where a knowledge of that Eisenhower matrix, which helps you prioritize responsibilities by urgency and importance, is going to be useful. From that group, identify one big task, three medium ones, and five little ones. That’s your to-do list for the day. If you struggle with what might be "big" or "small," think about what it would take to get each done.

• Emails that take just a few seconds don't require a lot of time, so they can be small, even if the results they produce are something you'd consider "big."

• Cleaning the kitchen could be "medium" or "big" depending on how much needs to be cleaned, how many products and resources you need, and how much time it'll take—it might also be "small" on an average Tuesday but "big" two days before hosting Thanksgiving.

• A project that is due in two weeks could be "medium," but if that same project is due tomorrow, the urgency makes it "big." These are subjective classifications based on your own resource allocation, so avoid the temptation to quickly label things small, medium, or big, no matter how many times you've done them before.

These are subjective classifications based on your own resource allocation, so avoid the temptation to quickly label things small, medium, or big, no matter how many times you've done them before. Acknowledging upfront that you can’t and won’t get it all done in a single day helps you stay focused on what you can and will do, rather than stressing about the remainder that you’re saving for tomorrow. 

Next, block out time in your calendar for each task, whether you do it in that planner or on a digital calendar. Use time blocking, or the technique of giving every single thing you need to do in a day a designated time on your calendar, and consider giving yourself just a smidge less time than you think you need for everything, to defeat Parkinson’s law, which is the idea that you’ll waste time if you give yourself too long to do anything.

Once you’ve laid out your day, start with that big task. Known as “eating the frog,” the big-task-first approach will give you a sense of accomplishment on completion, propelling you forward into those mid- and smaller-sized tasks. Plus, it stands to reason that the major responsibility will take the most time and resources, so knocking it out first ensures you have the time and resources it needs. (The exception to this rule happens on those themed days. If, for some reason, you need to complete your smaller tasks—like sending emails or confirming deliveries—because they enable you to do the bigger ones, obviously, do them in the order that makes most sense.)

Finally, be flexible. Unexpected assignments or duties crop up all the time and may not be easily categorized into the 1-3-5 boxes. You may also not finish one of your tasks for the day, in which case, add it to the next day's list—but bear in mind it may have increased in urgency and gone up a ranking in the 1-3-5 system as a result. The goal here isn’t to beat yourself up or be super strict. Rather, it’s to help you feel less overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things you need to do, prioritize them, and get a good amount done every day.

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