Making a to-do list is a nice idea. They can help make you feel in control, but they don’t account for the myriad annoyances and unpredictable hurdles that might crop up throughout the day. So in that sense, they’re kind of a blueprint for what you’d like to accomplish, if everything in a day where left entirely up to you.
Because reality doesn’t reflect that ideal, though, there’s a number of ways that you can make to-do list a more helpful tool in your never ending pursuit of getting things done.