Time Management During Projects

When it comes to my process when starting a new 3D environment project there are certain steps that I take almost all of the time.  Obviously, the first step for me is to decide what type of project I would like to work on at that particular moment.  I get inspired from walking down the streets of Chicago, playing video games and even something that I dreamt the night before.  When I first begin the project, I normally set up a greybox of all the items that I am going to model.  I then go take pictures of my own to get the style of the buildings or terrain that I am modeling and use these for reference.  It is a rare occasion when I just start modelling from memory because these models almost always end up not resembling the object I intended to model.  The next step that I have been trying to do lately is make a list of things that I need to build for the scene in order for the scene to be complete.  I find these tedious to do because I know what I want to put in the scene so why do I have to write them down.  I have found out that these lists simply make you more organized and give you deadlines to accomplish certain tasks.  After I have the task sheet done I start cranking out the environment until it is complete.  I have a teacher who doesn't accept work that isn't 100% complete, so even if my personal work isn't 100% complete I feel that it deserves a zero even though I am not being graded on it.  I am supposed to write about my quirks when I am modeling.  I don't really have any except that I need to have music playing and I need to be away from home.  The reason that I need to be away from home is I have to many distractions there to take my attention away from the goal.  Also, I don't have two monitors at home, yet, and I find modeling without a dual monitor set up to be very infuriating.