The done list: write down what you finished, not just what is left

A done list is a record of what you finished today, kept next to the list of what's left. A to-do list only tells you what you haven't done. Finish four tasks, add three, and by evening it looks almost the same as it did in the morning, which is why so many days end with the feeling that nothing happened.

Where it comes from

Nobody owns this one. People have logged their days for as long as there have been diaries, and the modern habit goes by a few names: done list, "ta-da list", accomplishment log.

The best-known support for it comes from research. Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer collected thousands of daily diary entries from people at work. Making progress on meaningful work, even small progress, was the biggest lift to how people felt about their day. They wrote it up in The Progress Principle (2011). A done list is a way to notice that progress before it slips by.

How it works

There are two common ways to keep one.

1. Alongside your to-do list. Tick tasks off, but don't delete them. At the end of the day, the crossed-out lines are your done list.
2. On its own. At the end of the day, write down everything you finished, including things that were never on a list: the problem you solved for a coworker, the hour you spent helping a neighbor, the call that went better than expected.

Most people end up doing both. The planned tasks show whether you did what you meant to. The unplanned ones show where your day really went.

Why it works

• It's proof. On a day that felt wasted, the list says you did eleven things. They just weren't the ones you expected.
• A week of done lists full of unplanned work tells you something a to-do list never will: your plans don't match your days.
• Writing down what's finished is a natural end to the workday.
• When someone asks what you worked on this month, you have the answer.

Where it falls short

• If you start padding the list to feel better, it stops telling you the truth. Write what happened.
• A done list looks back, so you still need a way to decide what's next. It pairs well with a short, ordered plan like the Ivy Lee method.
• It takes a minute a day, which is exactly the kind of minute that gets skipped. Tie it to something you already do, like shutting the laptop.

Make it a habit

• Do it at the same time every day, right before you stop work. Daily reminder can help: turn it on in Settings → Background & reminders, and some time after 7 pm it tells you how many tasks are unfinished. That's a good moment to look at what's done too.
• Include the unplanned work. It's the most useful part of the list.
• Keep it short: a sentence per item. Nobody is grading it.
• On Fridays, scroll back through the week in Plan. Notice which tasks keep getting done and which keep moving.

The bullet journal builds a done list into its pages, and daily planning methods, compared puts it next to the rest.