How do you keep your tasks under control?

Hi,
I’m doing the IB program next year. Freshman year has been light enough for me to get by without a set system, but I know that it won’t be the same for IB. I’ve tried planners before, but I wound up being less productive with them because recording tasks down gave me the impression of already making progress.
I was wondering how y’all manage your tasks. Thanks!

Read this book: How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport. It helps you with things like time management and how to figure out what to write about for a paper, etc.