For my work todo-list, maybe 10, but i get 0-2 done every day. Unlike my personal tasks, I only put important (my internal definition of p0s and p1s) or aspirational tasks (learn X) and actively cut anything i realistically won't get to.
For 2023 I limited myself to 3 tasks per day.
There were days when I didn't get all 3 things (or any of the things) done. There were days when I achieved more. But crucially, I never committed myself to more than 3.
I never felt stressed by my todo list as it was very manageable.
I can pick my objectives based on my long running list of todos or on my backlog of objectives. Really depends on what the priority is that day. That's how I set my day. It doesn't make me the most productive, but it does make me consistently productive without threat of burnout, so I settled on this.
To be honest, few times happen so successful days, when I done 9 tasks, but this is extremely rare.
So I'm not limit my schedule, I just have 1-3 tasks strictly scheduled, and 5-10 things to do if have spare time, if something go wrong and strictly scheduled task cancelled, or if I have inspiration to do more.
Examples, what to do if something happen, I have usual todo list, what to buy in supermarket, to have store of food and consumables, like paper for 2-3 weeks. Other good things - I have large todo list of interest papers, and books to read and to try.
Sorry, I forget about details.
Sure, when I work on pure programming/engineering tasks, I have very predictable output.
But in real life, I usually have to speak with people, gather additional information; sometimes under task I mean - to meet some person and sign some agreement, or to transport some paper to some office.
And for these tasks, where involved other people and which under influence of environment, like transport congestion, very usual when you for example planning to meet somebody from 13:00 to 14:00, but in reality you are late, or others late.
Sometimes I could do optimizations, for example, try to meet somebody earlier than planned, as example, I planned 13:00..14:00, but finished early, and next meet start not on 14:00 but on 13:40, and etc.
And these days with 9 tasks, was so wonderful, most meetings finished early and other people was so pleasant to meet me without preliminary call on previous day, and all offices work when I was near, and all documents pass without delay.
Examples of an ideal day’s categories would be: hiring, 1:1s/meetings, leadership, and perhaps 1 significant project or problem I’m working on.
I’ve been doing a daily to do list since September 2021 and it’s funny to look back on how chaotic and disorganized those early lists were. I’ve definitely put work into simplifying my work since then. It’s something that’s so effective, I’m surprised more people don’t do it.
mon: 6, tue: 3, wed: 4, thu: 4, fri: 4 (only did 3).
I also have a weekly TODO list with more general tasks. It contained 4.
In my experience I often cannot do more than 5 tasks a day. So I try to limit it to 5 tasks if possible.
I realize that won't work for anyone. But I have much less stress if I don't have a strict plan at all.
Disclaimer: I'm very disorganized.
Never more than 4, by choice.