Half a year ago, I spent a whole week trying to figure out the best way to create to-do lists and define objectives for the future. Living without a plan mostly leads to being busy while achieving absolutely nothing. A plan is a must.
You should not set time goals. Saying “I will play guitar for one hour” does not mean you will improve. You can get distracted, work slowly or repeat things you already know. Time spent is not the same as progress.
You need a specific objective in front of you. Instead of saying that you will play guitar for one hour, define exactly what you want to be able to play afterward. You need a clear result to work towards and a point where the objective is completed.
Objectives must be specific. “Work on my project” is not an objective. It is too vague and makes it easy to get distracted. You should know exactly what you are working towards and what the finished result should look like.
Every objective also needs a serious deadline. Not a deadline for how long you will work, but a deadline for when the result must exist. Without one, you will keep delaying, changing things and wasting time.
It is also not about having many objectives. It is about completing them. There is a difference between being busy all day and finishing one objective after another. A long to-do list means nothing when nothing gets completed.
You should constantly look for bottlenecks while working. Analyse what slows you down, what distracts you and why some objectives take longer than expected. When the same problem happens again and again, fix the way you work.
You should also track your work. Write down what you planned, what you completed and how long it took. Your own feeling can be wrong. Numbers show whether you are actually progressing or just keeping yourself busy.
A good to-do does not only tell you what to do. It defines exactly what must be achieved, when it must be completed and what counts as finished.