The To-Do Table is the most effective daily planning system I’ve ever used.

It’s simple. It’s straightforward. It sets you up for a day of getting shit done!

The To-Do Table was introduced by Grace Beverley, a UK-based entrepreneur and founder of TALA (an activewear brand), Shreddy (a fitness app) and The Productivity Method (her daily planner company). She’s also the published author of Working Hard, Hardly Working, and you can follow her business journey on YouTube where she also posts interviews with founders, entrepreneurs, and experts from different fields.

All of this is to say that she knows business and productivity because she’s out there doing the damn thing.

I first came across Grace Beverley in this video (“How To Build A Multi-Million Dollar Empire In Your 20s” on Ali Abdaal’s podcast). After being impressed by her work ethic and business clarity I decided to check out her channel, which is where I came across this gem of a video where she shares her killer daily productivity system: the *To-Do Table.*

(As of writing this, it’s her channel’s most viewed video.)

So what is a To-Do Table?

The To-Do Table

The quick overview: Take a blank sheet of paper. Divide it into 4 columns. From left to right, title these columns:

• Quick Ticks
• Tasks
• Projects
• Schedule

Let’s break it down.

Quick Ticks

These are items that only take a few minutes to complete, like 5 minutes max.

Examples:

• Email X a work request
• Submit a payment
• Schedule a bath for your dog

Tasks

Tasks are longer than Quick Ticks. They take about 5 – 30 minutes.

Examples:

• Write a project outline
• Create a pin
• Project meeting with your coworker

Projects

Projects are bigger, more involved items that take more time and effort to complete. Try writing the name of the project then breaking it down into smaller tasks right below it.

Examples:

• Spring Sale
  • Determine sale details, promo period, terms
  • Coordinate with operations, warehouse, marketing team, others to execute
  • Create marketing materials
  • Announce and run the sale
• New video
  • Come up with topic and script outline
  • Film
  • Edit
  • Thumbnail
  • Post and promote
• Bedroom reading nook
  • Determine budget
  • Gather design inspiration
  • Room measurements
  • Buy supplies
  • Build components (furniture, bookshelf), paste wallpaper, etc.
  • Arrange items, decorate the space

Mapping out your projects at the beginning of the week lets you see the big things that need to get done and how much work it will take.

This makes your projects so much easier to complete: all you have to do is structure your week accordingly to get it done.

Schedule

In the fourth column, write down your hourly schedule for the day. If you need a more detailed overview, break it down into 30 minute sections.

Now use your schedule to time block.

Setting aside designated time for each item in your schedule is dramatically different than listing all your to-do’s in one single list, important and trivial items alike, with no real idea of when each thing will happen.

By time blocking, you carve out protected time to actually get x, y and z done that day. Otherwise it’s all too easy for little things to take up all of your time and the day will have slipped by before you even had a chance to get through a single important thing.

Another reason time blocking is such a powerful technique is because when you set aside a protected block of time to get something done, your brain can stay in that task’s mode until the thing is completed. Your brain is much better at sustaining a focused state to complete a task than having to switch back and forth from one task to another. (Actually in Grace Beverley’s video she mentions a study that says it can take up to 20 minutes to shift your focus back from an interruption! How much wasted time does that add up to?) This saves time and energy, meaning you’ll accomplish your daily tasks with less stress and more ease.

Some advice: Try not to stack your schedule completely. Block out time for the most critical things that need to happen that day and give yourself cushions of time in between. This way if new items come up (as they inevitably will), you can find a block of free time to work it into your schedule.

Tips

In addition to the basic structure of the to-do table, Grace Beverley shares several other valuable productivity tips.

These three stood out to me the most.

3 Non-Negotiables

Mark out a little section in your daily spread to note down 3 non-negotiable items for the day: 3 things to get done today that will make the day a success.

Don’t make this list any bigger or more complicated than it needs to be. Just keep it at 3 realistic but important items that will help you move the dial on what’s important for you.

1 Daily Habit

What is one habit that you’re keeping today?

This is based on the idea put forth in the wildly popular book Atomic Habits by James Clear: Tiny habits add up to big changes. You won’t be able to run a marathon just because you decide to do it one day; but if you train daily (or almost daily) you’ll be able to do it!

What’s one habit that you are committing to today? Keep it up and you can create powerful change over time.

Know How Long Tasks Actually Take You

When you have a realistic sense of how long a task actually takes you to complete, you can schedule your time appropriately to get it done. This lets you keep on schedule, an obvious benefit. A bigger benefit is that this builds up your confidence in yourself because you’re showing that you follow through when you say you will.

The Daily Planner

You can do the To-Do Table on a sheet of paper, it totally works. OR…

You can buy Grace Beverley’s daily planner with this exact daily overview in plenty of cute designs right here at this link.

This is more than just a series of templated pages. It’s a proper planner with an introduction in the beginning, weekly spreads, goal setting spreads (weekly, monthly, yearly), and meeting notes pages. And, of course, plenty of pages with the To-Do Table so you can get shit done.

They have 80k+ reviews, an outstanding satisfaction rate, and you can tell they update their planner based on feedback and what they actually find most effective. Solid!

Final Thoughts

I looove productivity systems. I’ve tried a lot of them. And this is one is legit.

The To-Do Table is clear and organized. It lets you capture small tasks and bigger projects in the appropriate areas so you can see all that needs to get done in one quick view. (Unlike typical to-do lists where quick and complicated tasks are all jumbled up together which can sometimes lead to a false sense of how much you really have to do in a day and how much time that will actually take and really only sets you up for stress and frustration…!)

Because I find this system so effective and I really like Grace Beverley’s outlook on business, health and self-care, I’m excited to check out her book Working Hard, Hardly Working. It’s been on my TBR list forever but this year I’m diving in.

If you like the To-Do Table, check out more of Grace Beverley’s work online. I think her YouTube channel is a great place to start. As a young(ish) female trying to build a business of my own I find it so inspiring and motivating and genuinely helpful to see other people’s journeys and learn from what they’ve actually done.

In fact, here’s the video where she first talks about the To-Do Table (again, her most-viewed video as of writing this!)

If you give this daily productivity system a try let me know how it works for you!

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