In my work life they have always been effective in aiding me in getting the job done. I prefer using a legal pad when I am making major lists. Each page has a topic and I begin by organizing the seemingly endless tasks onto those pages. Each item large and small get a neat little checkable box next to it. When the task is completed, I check it off at the end of the day I can see the progress I made (or didn't make).

For preparing my career break, I did a "data dump" almost daily and revised these lists often and gradually the to-do's began to shrink. As moving approached, these lists gave me a sense of control and helped keep me focused on my end goal of taking off on my solo journey.