The new year is a time when many people set new goals. What if there were an easy way to actually achieve those goals?

By dividing up big tasks into smaller ones, you can accomplish almost anything.

One way of doing is is setting only 9 tasks per day and dividing them by the size of the task. This is the reasoning behind the 1-3-5 task list.

Set up one large task for the day – maybe taking the car into the dealer for a tune up. The three medium tasks like getting the dog groomed or going shopping at the grocery store. Then five small tasks like calling a friend, scheduling that dentist appointment or writing an email.

As you check off each task each day, you’ll feel better about what you’ve accomplished.

Another key to a daily to do list is to only add tasks that must be accomplished that day and not the next day. If it can wait, then don’t put it on the daily list. Keep a separate master list that you pull from to add to the daily.

I keep my master list at the start of each month and roll over the big tasks as needed.

The Muse has a great template for the 1-3-5 rule and you can download it for free!