How a Friday Task Release List Will Change the Way You Work Forever

By Chelsea Babin

We tend to let tasks that are important but not urgent slip into the recesses of our mind. Slowly, thoughts of those tasks can build up and distract us from the things we’re actively getting done. The best way around this is to create a Friday Task Release list!

What it is:

A Task Release list is a physical (or digital) place to house all of those tasks that you need to get done but not necessarily right away. When you house these solely in your mind, you run the risk of having them pop into your head when you’re focusing on something else which can completely derail your productivity. Instead, writing them all down in a Task Release list frees your mind so you can focus and gives you the comfort of knowing you won’t forget to do these tasks at a later date.

How to create one:

1. Designated Space and Time: Whether it’s a physical notebook, a note on your phone, or an email draft, having a designated space for your list is the first step to succeeding. Although you can set aside time any day, Fridays are the perfect days for creating your list because you can see which personal tasks you need to tackle over the weekend and you can schedule out your next week so that you’ll have time to complete any task with an encroaching deadline. Doing your Task Release list on a Friday sets you up to have a more rejuvenating weekend and a more productive work week as soon as you step in the door on Monday.

2. Leave Out All Day: Although you may think of several things to write down on your Task Release list immediately, chances are you’ll forget a few things or a few new tasks will arise throughout the day that will fit the list perfectly. Starting the list early in the morning and leaving it in a visible or noticeable spot all day will help bring forth forgotten tasks from your memory so you can write them down.

3. Final 30 Minutes: At or near the end of the day, take 30 minutes to divide your list into professional and personal tasks. Then, look at your existing schedule for the week ahead of you. Block out chunks of time to tackle the more pressing tasks and create a top 5 list of remaining tasks that you can take care of if you have a little extra time pop up in your work schedule.

If you’ve never tried creating a Task Release list on a Friday you don’t know what you’re missing! Stop random tasks from popping into your brain when you’re doing something more important and master your schedule for good with this efficient system.