My to-do list and productivity looks different than before the onset of my chronic conditions. I give myself a lot more grace and rest than I used to, but I still have my ‘healthy’ friends asking me “How do you do it all?” 

My answer is simple:

Mastering your to-do list and creating productivity despite chronic conditions is doable when you divide your list into categories that correlate with how you feel throughout the day and utilize tools that help you stay on track by limiting distractions and supporting attention management.

I used to be an overachiever, professional list maker, and slightly obsessed with getting more done in one day than a ‘healthy’ person. As my conditions progressed, it was my way of refusing to be controlled by my chronic conditions and coping, I guess. Instead of adjusting I decided to plow through it at first.

Not how I suggest for someone to tackle a chronic illness. 

I slowly realised that I needed to embrace my conditions, learn from them, and then create my healthy way of continuing to master my lists, sustaining productivity, and reaching my goals. 

This doesn’t mean my conditions define me as a person or define my ability for productivity but they do impact both. I am me, same as I have always been. I manage a chronic illness, but this chronic illness is not who I am. Deciding to work with instead of plowing against will get you a lot further mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Breaking Down Your to-do List Into Categories

By breaking down your to-do list into categories, it can help you decide when to tackle which tasks for the best productivity while reducing the amount of stress, effort, or energy you place on yourself.

Write out all the things that ‘need’ to be done. In a separate column write all the things that you ‘want’ to get done but aren’t urgent or important. 

In the first category of ‘need’ you’ll begin to prioritize. If you have a due date or time for something, write it beside the listed item. Now, I personally will re-write the ‘need’ column listing the earliest due dates towards the top. This helps me focus when I start correlating items in my planner to get them done.

Correlating Your to-do List with How You Feel

This section may take a while to really hone in on. Best practice is to document in 2 hour time slots during awake hours for 2 weeks of how you feel. A symptom tracker can help with this if you’re also keeping notes on the time of day.

The purpose in this is to try to identify any patterns or more commonalities that you can take advantage of. For instance, you may discover that mental fatigue is lower generally from 1pm-3pm most days or that you have the most creativity or physical energy from 6am-8am in general most days. 

Once you’ve discovered these patterns, you can break down your to-do list by priority and matching it as close as possible to a correlating time period of how you feel.

Personally, I leave the list in my planner but I time block in the priorities during timeframes that ‘should’ fit best. I use sticky notes for things that can move time frames and don’t necessarily have an urgent ‘due date’ but are important, like cleaning the bathroom or doing bookkeeping tasks. These get written in ink in the planner if I’ve had to put them off to the point that they have to get done this week.

While you’re doing this part, don’t forget your ‘want’ list. Being able to still accomplish things you want to do is important for dealing with chronic conditions. Don’t get so hyper focused on the necessities that you forget to enjoy life too. 

Try setting aside a day every now and then for just your want list or majority ‘want’. Align the items on that list with the time of day that should fit best with the tasks, just like you would for a priority or ‘need’ task.

Tools that Help You Focus On Your to-do List

I love using the Pomodoro technique. I installed the Chrome Extension Focus To-Do: Pomodoro Timer & To Do List. I simply enter the project, set the time and it runs in the background. Once it chimes it’ll tell me the next project I said I wanted to do next. (reminder is great for that brain fog lol)

You can also use your phone timer for Pomodoro Techniques or just give yourself a deadline to get something done. Maybe this subconsciously will keep you focused knowing you have an impending deadline.

I also installed the Chrome Extension for Evernote. When I’m researching something and I see an article that catches my attention I’ll clip it to my Evernote under “Look at Later” and keep working. I have a time once a week I go in and look at all these items I’ve saved but it keeps my browser bookmarks low and out of sight, out of mind until I’m ready for the distraction.

Setting your phone to Airplane Mode is a great way to not be distracted by notifications while you’re reading on your phone.

Turning on a Pandora lyric free station can help with background noise to keep you focused but not entertain your brain with lyrics that can be distracting or reduce the amount of information you retain if you’re studying.

Time blocking tasks in your planner is a great way to organize your to-do list to make sure you’re tackling the tasks at the optimal time. Be sure to try to pair these with the right times of day to how you feel like we talked about earlier in the article.

Moment  Measures how much time you’re spending on your phone and your most used apps. It provides coaching to help you with your relationship with your phone day by day with self paced guided coaching sessions. By seeing your family’s device usage, you can set times that are screen-free and organize intentional family time and work time. 

RescueTime will automatically track the time you spend on websites, apps and some documents. It’s done without timers or need for manual entry and you get detailed reports on where you are giving your time.There’s also time-tracking for offline in one-click. This tool can help you get the big picture of your day so you can see where time sucks are and where you can increase your productivity.

Siempo prevents you from getting distracted by allowing you to batch your notifications to arrive at specific time frames in a day or by intervals. 

News Feed Eradicator for Facebook is a Chrome extension that will remove the Facebook Newsfeed and replace it with an inspirational quote. This is super helpful for those utilizing Facebook for business or interaction with groups.

Feedless removes the distracting feeds on social media on your iPhone so you don’t get lost down the rabbit hole outside of your allotted time frame. Keep your scheduling, group activities, and research on point during business timeframes.

Celebrating Winning Days & Coping Lost Days

We win a few and we ‘lose’ a few. Or do we? Depends on how you look at it. 

Maybe you didn’t get anything on your epic to-do list done today…but;

Maybe you took a hot bath that eased your pain. (rejoice in the relaxation that was obviously needed)

Maybe you laid out prepped meals from the freezer so your family eats good tonight even though you can’t cook. (rejoice in the day that had the little win of meal prepping that becomes a big win today)

Maybe you walked the dog or shaved your legs. (I don’t know about you but cleaning up after my dog takes more out of me than walking her. And shaving my legs just makes me ‘feel’ clean and refreshed)

Maybe you just slept off and on all day and when you were ‘awake’ everything you said was gibberish and sluggish so hubby ordered a pizza or the kids made a sandwich. (no one starved! score!)

It’s not the end of the world. You didn’t lose a day, you gave your body and mind grace to fight again another day. 

This is just as important as ‘getting that to-do list done’, actually more important. 

Cope with days that aren’t as productive as you would like in a loving way towards yourself. The more you stress yourself and push for perfection, the harder it is to keep up. 

No, this isn’t an excuse or way to be ‘lazy’, it’s just how chronic illness goes. Trust me, I don’t do lazy well and can’t stand to be around it, but there are times when we must learn to differentiate between an ongoing habit of laziness and a day or few of needed rest and rejuvenation.

Celebrate that you do have a list to help you focus, you are time-blocking to optimize your energy and efforts, and you are being intentional on the good days and during the good hours. Celebrate time to give yourself rest and celebrate the fact that you are crushing it chronically!