Whether you call it a To-Do, Task, or Next Action List they are all basically the same. Its the stuff you want to get done. The basic to-do list has suffered at the hands of people who do not understand its power. In its simplest form it is just a list. It does not impart any special meaning about how important it is. With a plain list you at least know what to do. What is important, or possible to do is another story. How can we make this list better?
Priorities
The first way it is possible to make a to-do list better is to add priorities to the list. If you can separate what you want to do from what has to be done you are further down the road to being more productive. Another way that you may want to mix priorities into the mix is to decide what is also urgent and what is not urgent.
Contexts
Some productivity systems use the idea of contexts to help them be more productive. They divide the to-do list into actions that can be done in a certain spot. Some examples of this are a list of everything you can do on the computer, or a list of all telephone calls that you need to make.
When to Make Your List
I believe that the best time to make your list is during your weekly review. I like a big list for a week, and then during my daily review is to pick three big things and two small things to do. Some people like to make a list daily. I still suggest it being about three big tasks and two small ones.
The task list has potential to be useful, but it can also stop being useful in a few ways. First, if you do not use any type of prioritization on your list it will not work for you. Second, it is possible to go overboard on the prioritization, or contexts and create a list which is unusable. It is a balancing act to create a list which is usable to you. Color can be a useful tool for making tasks of different priorities or contexts standout.