When I do speaking engagements, I always stress the importance of writing things down. When you write things down, it frees your mind for more big picture thinking and you don't have to worry about the details.

That said, these are the 3 lists you absolutely must use to manage your time effectively:

1. Master list

This is a place for a "brain dump", a place for ideas you might want to pursue in the future or possible projects you need to tackle.

You can work off one master list for months, like I do with my business or blogging ideas.

I have a master list of things to do in the house which I've been working on since we moved in two years ago. Honestly, I think there will always be items on this list!

2. To-do list

This list can be monthly, weekly or daily.

The difference between this list and the master list is that this one has a time deadline to it.

I have a monthly to-do list - I keep this one with broad goals like go to the gym 10 - 12 times - a weekly to-do list with about 5 - 7 business tasks to get done and then my daily to-do list which spreads out those 5 - 7 tasks so that I have only 1 or 2 to do daily.

I want to caution you to only put a maximum of 6 items on your daily to-do list so you don't become overwhelmed!

3. Checklist

This is a place with a list of items which you check/ tick off.

This list is ideal for anything you need to do regularly, like a list of weekly cleaning tasks, office supplies, routine business tasks, etc.

Once you start using the right list for the correct task, you'll be flying!

You can download master to-do, shopping and travel lists from my site.