I Swapped My Digital To-Do List For a Physical One, and I've Never Been More Productive – It's Been a Game Changer for My Busiest Months of the Year

I used to pride myself on cutting back physical clutter by digitizing everything, from my weekly calendar to my to-do lists. But somewhere between constant notifications and doomscrolling, I realized I wasn't actually doing as much as I was planning.

So, frustrated with my backlog of tasks, I went old-school, swapping digital to-do lists for a physical one, and the change was immediate. It has been a game changer for what has turned out to be my busiest months of the year.

Now, instead of pushing tasks to tomorrow, I tackle them all head-on. Here's how the swap made to-do lists less overwhelming, and why productivity experts are so glad I saw the light and made the change.

Why You Should Swap a Digital To-Do List for a Physical One

A digital to-do list can certainly work for some people to help banish procrastination. They keep all of your tasks localized and right at your fingertips. However, for people like me, it can also make it easy to hide tasks away in a closed app, making them easy to forget about intentionally.

With a physical to-do list, however, your tasks are harder to hide away unless you physically screw up the list and throw it in a drawer. Therefore, it can make you more accountable and help create a weekly organizing schedule.

Dr. Craig Kain, psychologist and psychotherapist, explains that switching can be very helpful for people like me who struggle with 'out of sight, out of mind'.

'I think both can be helpful,' he begins. 'However, while digital to-do lists are often touted as the solution to everyone's memory problems, it's just not true. For a lot of people, particularly people with ADD, a written to-do list is far more effective.

'My clients with ADD, whether it's a mild or severe case, will often share their frustration with people suggesting they keep a to-do list with reminders on their phone as a solution to struggles with remembering. What they know is that for an electronic to-do list to be effective, we have to remember to look at it, which is hard to remember if you have ADD, or are just a generally busy person. Adding reminders to a digital list is rarely helpful because if the alarm is silenced before the task is done, we may or may not return to it.'

To create an ADHD-friendly home and work with a physical to-do list, you, of course, have to remember to move the physical to-do list around with you, Dr. Craig adds.

But it is easier to post a physical to-do list in a prominent place, such as on your fridge or on a bathroom mirror – somewhere you see frequently every day, than bury it on a device designed to distract you.

This is not to say that digital to-do lists do not have any use when trying to boost productivity, Dr Craig continues.

Rather, he uses them for short-term, immediate goals. 'I'll make a digital to-do list for a shopping trip to Costco,' he shares. 'But for longer-term goals – what I need to do this week or parts of an ongoing project – a written list can be far more effective.'

Sharon Lowenheim, certified professional organizer and founder of Organizing Goddess, agrees, adding that a physical to-do list can be ideal for breaking down a massive list into more manageable chunks. This can be helpful for productivity methods, such as the Avoidance Method or a Scary Hour, to help tidy your home when you feel overwhelmed.

She says, 'It can be very demoralizing for someone to look at a list of 50 tasks on a digital dumping ground. Selecting three to five tasks each day from the digital to-do list and transferring them to a physical to-do list will help someone stay focused on completing those tasks in one day.

'One reason why some tasks never make it off the to-do list is because they are not actually tasks; they are projects consisting of a series of tasks,' she adds. 'You can put "Find a new apartment" on your massive digital to-do list, but just put the next step on your daily to-do list – for example, "Ask Ashley what real estate broker she used".'

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Meet the Experts

Craig Kain, Ph.D.

Dr. Craig Kain has been a therapist for over 35 years, helping his clients see things in new ways and build fulfilling relationships with others and themselves. He has experience working with depression, anxiety, trauma, and other obstacles that prevent people from enjoying a full life.

Sharon Lowenheim

Sharon Lowenheim is the founder of Organizing Goddess, Inc., and is the only Certified Professional Organizer® in New York City specializing in apartments and small spaces. She is also a proud member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals (NAPO), and is currently on the NAPO Board of Directors, serving as Treasurer of the association.

Hate to-do lists altogether? Rather than start your day overwhelmed at the prospect of everything you need to get done, try a ta-da list instead, listing everything you have achieved at the end of the day for an instant mood-boost.