To-Do List Examples You Can Copy (Work, Study, Home)

Good to-do lists have two things in common. Every line is a specific action you can start right away, and the few things that must happen today are kept apart from everything else. Below are four to-do list examples you can copy (a workday, a study week, a weekend and a project), followed by the rules that make tasks get done instead of carried over.

Each example is a Markdown checklist. - [ ] is an open task and - [x] is a done one. Paste the text into an editor that supports GitHub-style task lists and each line becomes a checkbox. In a plain text file, the brackets still read as boxes to tick. For the full syntax, see our Markdown checklist syntax guide.

Daily work to-do list example

This list sorts the day into four groups: what has to ship today, what can slip, what you're waiting on from other people, and what's already done.

## Today: must do
- [ ] Send the year-end budget draft to Priya for sign-off
- [ ] Fix the broken signup link on the pricing page
- [ ] Write 3 talking points for the 2 pm client call

## Today: if there's time
- [ ] Reply to the 4 flagged emails from yesterday
- [ ] Book a meeting room for Thursday's review
- [ ] Update the onboarding doc with the new login steps

## Waiting on
- [ ] Contract feedback from legal (asked Tuesday)
- [ ] Banner design files from Alex (due Friday)

## Done today
- [x] Submit the expense report for the October trip

Why it works:

• Only three must-dos. If all three are done by lunch, the day is already a success. Anything from the second group is a bonus.
• "Waiting on" is separate. These aren't your tasks, but you need to remember to chase them. Mixing them in with your own work makes the list look longer than it is.
• Each line names the person, file or time. "Send budget draft to Priya" leaves nothing to figure out. "Budget" alone makes you stop and think before you can start.

For a blank version to fill in each morning, use our daily to-do list template.

Study to-do list example

Study lists fail when they say "study chemistry." This one breaks revision into tasks you can finish and check, and it plans one evening's study block in 25-minute sessions.

## Biology exam (Friday): this week
- [ ] Reread chapter 7 notes and mark anything unclear
- [ ] Make 20 flashcards for cell respiration terms
- [ ] Do practice questions 1–15 from last year's past paper
- [ ] Mark the answers and list the 3 weakest topics
- [ ] Ask Ms. Lee about question 9 in office hours

## Tonight's study block
- [ ] 25 min: flashcards (cell respiration)
- [ ] 5 min break
- [ ] 25 min: practice questions 1–8
- [ ] 5 min break
- [ ] 25 min: redo the questions I got wrong yesterday

What makes it work:

• Every task produces something you can check. Twenty flashcards, 15 answered questions, a list of three weak topics. You know when each one is finished.
• Weak spots become new tasks. "List the 3 weakest topics" feeds tomorrow's list, so revision follows what you don't know yet rather than what feels comfortable.
• Breaks are on the list. Written down, they're part of the plan instead of time stolen from it.

If timed sessions are new to you, our post on how many Pomodoros a day covers how many 25-minute blocks are realistic, and the Pomodoro timer for studying guide shows how to set one up. To turn notes into revision material, see how to make a study guide.

Weekend to-do list example

Weekend lists need a different shape. Many tasks depend on place and opening hours, and rest belongs on the list as much as chores do.

## Saturday morning: errands
- [ ] Drop the parcel at the post office (closes at noon)
- [ ] Clean out the fridge before the grocery run
- [ ] Buy groceries from the shopping list
- [ ] Pick up the dry cleaning

## Home
- [ ] Change the bed sheets and start a wash
- [ ] Pay the electricity bill
- [ ] Fix the dripping bathroom tap or book a plumber

## Rest
- [ ] Call Grandma
- [ ] Walk in the park for an hour
- [ ] Finish the book on the nightstand

Why it works:

• Order follows the clock. The post office comes first because it closes at noon, and the fridge comes before the groceries so you know what you need.
• "Or book a plumber" is a fallback. Some jobs turn out bigger than expected. Writing the fallback into the task means it still gets resolved this weekend.
• Rest has its own section. If those lines are ticked by Sunday evening, the weekend did its job.

To pair this with a grocery list, use our shopping list template.

Project to-do list example

A project is anything with more than a handful of steps or a finish date beyond this week. Group the tasks by phase and keep one section for open questions, so decisions you haven't made yet don't stall the list.

## Project: launch portfolio site by December 15

### 1. Plan
- [x] Pick 6 projects to show
- [x] Write a one-paragraph bio
- [ ] Choose a domain name and check it's available

### 2. Build
- [ ] Set up the site with the chosen template
- [ ] Write a short case study for each project
- [ ] Export all project images at the same width
- [ ] Add a contact form and test that messages arrive

### 3. Launch
- [ ] Ask 2 friends to proofread every page
- [ ] Connect the domain
- [ ] Post the link on LinkedIn and email it to past clients

### Open questions
- [ ] Decide: separate page for writing samples, or not?

Why it works:

• The finish date is in the heading. Every task is measured against it.
• Phases show where you are. Two ticks in "Plan" and none in "Build" tells you what to pick up next.
• Open questions are written as decisions. "Decide: separate page, or not?" is a task you can finish. "Writing samples?" just sits there.

When a project has several things in progress at once, a board can be easier to read than a list. Our guide to what a Kanban board is explains when that switch makes sense.

How to write tasks you actually finish

All four examples follow the same few rules. Here is the difference they make:

The rules behind the right-hand column:

1. Start with a verb. Send, write, book, call, buy. A noun on its own is a topic, not a task.
2. Write the next physical step. "Plan the holiday" is a project. "Check flight prices for June 10–17" is something you can do in the next five minutes.
3. Make each task fit in one sitting. If it won't, split it. You tick something off sooner and know where to restart.
4. Put the detail you'll need in the line. Who to send it to, which file, which page. You'll read the list later in a hurry.
5. Cap the must-dos at three. Everything else goes under "if there's time." If you're unsure which three matter, the Eisenhower matrix is a quick way to sort them.
6. Only date things with real deadlines. If every task has a date, the dates stop meaning anything.
7. Clear the list before you stop work. Tick, move or delete every item. If you've moved the same task three days running, it's either too big (split it) or not important (delete it).

Using these lists in Gubb

We make Gubb, a small notes app for Mac and Windows that turns typed markers into checklists as you type. To build any of the lists above in a Gubb note:

1. Hover over the title bar and click + (Create New Note).
2. Type ## and a Space at the start of a line to make a heading.
3. Type [ ] and a Space at the start of a line (no leading dash) to make an unchecked item. [x] and a Space makes a checked one.
4. Press Return to add the next item. Press Return on an empty item to leave the list.
5. Click a box to tick it. Checked items are struck through.

For the work and study lists, where dates matter, you can use a to-do block instead. Type gubb@todo on a line by itself (it must be alone on that line), then add tasks in the Add a task... field. The block groups tasks into Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming and No Date, and each task can have a priority flag, notes and subtasks. Due dates are date-only and Gubb doesn't send reminders for them, so keep a calendar for anything you can't afford to miss.

For the project example, gubb@board on a line by itself creates a Kanban board with To Do, In Progress and Done columns. Our help center covers to-do blocks and Kanban boards in more detail.

Gubb costs $59 one-time from gubb.net (as of November 2026), and the Mac download includes a 7-day free trial. If you'd rather use the apps already on your Mac, our guide to making a to-do list on Mac covers the built-in options.