In the world of IM, getting more done each day is dependent upon your ability to be extremely organized. The purpose of this article is to show you how you create your to-do list the right way to boost your productivity levels...

Clear Your Schedule: It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you dedicate a big chunk of your time to something so that you can really concentrate on it instead of dedicating a few minutes to it here and there. After you've accomplished the errands and distractions that eat up your mornings, you'll find it's much easier to get through your to-do list because you'll have an added boost of energy knowing that you have time to get things done. If you don't clear your schedule it won't take much at all for you to get distracted from finishing your to-do list. Begin by writing out a list of errands and chores you'll know what you need to do to make sure that you will be free to really focus on the things you need to finish to increase your day's productivity.

Be Realistic: When you are writing your to-do list it is important not to overreach and include a bunch of stuff that you won't have time to get to because that can be a major de-motivating factor. The last thing you need is to fail at finishing your to-do list every day and believe that you have set unrealistic goals. This gets you off course and makes your to-do list even harder to finish. You need to first figure out how much you can realistically accomplish each day and then add tasks to your list. This can also give you the clarity you need to continue moving forward because you'll have motivation from finishing your projects.

Every single thing that you get to cross off of your list helps you get closer to realizing your goal and that is a major motivator.

Effective Preparation: Sometimes making a to-do list into something successful depends on how much prep you can do. If you have prepared yourself enough you will see that crossing tasks off of your to-do list is much easier because you'll know what to do. For instance, let's just say that on your list there is an item that says "write 5 articles." Doing the required research ahead of time for your articles will make actually completing them a lot easier. It absolutely does! With enough and proper prep, most of your work is already done.

When you use these tips to make your to-do list it becomes easy to see that these lists aren't just about taking action, they're also to help you stay correctly organized.