My 9-year-old's 'To Do' List

Last weekend, my 9-year-old son wrote his own 'To Do' list. He has never written one before and I have never advised him to write one. However, he announced that he was going to write a 'To Do' list and he did - and he stuck it on the calendar for all to see:

1. The Industrial (that's his train set)
2. Breakfast
3. Get dressed
4. Homework
5. Drumming
6. Trombone
7. Write in diary
8. Lunch
9. Tidy room (pick up 50 things and put them away)
10. Play with Industrial (that's his train set - again)
11. Go swimming
12. Watch DVD and have pizza

Why have I never written a 'To Do' list like that?
It's great. It has everything: work, rest and play - all in a day.
And he has his priority right where it should be - at the top of the list.
The question is, did he do any of it?

At 8am in the morning, he was downstairs putting his train set out - 'The Industrial'. He played with that for a good hour then he had breakfast and got dressed. That's three things ticked off before 10am.
Then he did his homework - unprompted. And he did his drumming and trombone practice before lunch.

The part that was not so successful was the 'Tidy room' item. That, for my son, is very ambitious. He tried but it was little more than a try. However, he'd written it down and he attempted it.

Yes, we did go swimming and yes, we had pizza whilst watching a DVD.

So whatever prompted him to write a 'To Do' list and what can I learn from my 9-year-old?

I do have a 'To Do' list - on the erasable whiteboard in the kitchen but there are jobs on that list that were written so long ago, I've almost forgotten why I wrote them there. Others are crossed off - completed; still others are partially rubbed out so barely readable.

What my 9-year-old's 'To Do' list reminded me was:

a) I need balance in my life: all work and no play was not good for Jack and it's not good for me.
b) I should put my priority at the top and start with my priority - and try and make it a fun one to get me motivated.
c) I need a mix of easy-to-achieve tasks and more-challenging tasks.
d) I need to schedule my tasks: set a start and finish time to avoid delaying or prolonging them.
e) I need to make my tasks ambitious but manageable - anything over-ambitious will not even get started.
f) I need my tasks to be achievable in the time given: my son completed everything he set out to do - well, nearly everything: at least he started on his room.
g) I need to attempt something great every day.
h) I need to be flexible - I may not complete - or I may have to change  - my 'To Do' list

My son was very realistic and very pragmatic about his goals for the day. At the start, he even admitted that he might not get all of them completed but he named the ones he really wanted to achieve - and he was motivated to achieve them, more so possibly because he wrote them down.

What have you learnt about 'To Do' lists?
How do you make your 'To Do' list work for you rather than you working for your 'To Do' list?

Please share your own insights by leaving a comment.