Keep your to-do list focused on the current day rather than the rest of the week or a longer time period—that way, you can complete (or at least attempt to complete) ...

5. Figure out whether you want to write your to-do list on paper or digitally.Paper can be great because there are only so many tasks you can fit onto a page, says Trinidad.

How you approach or create your to-do list can make a big difference. Experts weigh in on how to write — and tackle — a to-do list to make it best work for you.

Sometimes, we don’t make that much headway on our to-do list because certain things take longer than others. Writing a 20-page proposal, for example, is not the same as sending a follow-up email.