Make Your To Do List A Breeze
Do you ever feel completely overwhelmed with all the projects on your list? Do you ever feel starved for time? I’ve been there. I have looked at my schedule and felt that frazzled feeling of – I have so much I have to do but can literally not fit another thing in. I know that this time of year is especially problematic if you’re someone who is used to overloading yourself. Holidays, family, parties, end of year deadlines, planning for the next year… How do you manage your to do list when it is unmanageable?
Ask yourself – what is most important to me? Which things on my to do list feel the most exciting? Which thing(s) bring me the most joy? Then rank the things you have to do in that order. When you are planning out your time start allocating time for what’s at the top of that list first.
What can be crossed off that list. I recently watched an interview with Arianna Huffington, where she described how she handles her to do list. Think of deleting something off your list as the same as getting it done. Which things can you check off your to do list right now? Consider them done and give yourself a pat on the back for already being so productive today!
What is on your list that someone else could do? What can you delegate to your family or children? A great tool if you live in a major metropolitan area is TaskRabbit. You can literally hire someone to do whatever odd jobs you can think of. What tasks would you give a personal assistant? Grocery shopping, wrapping Christmas gifts, picking up the dry cleaning, cleaning the house… There are people who would love to do these things for you to earn a little extra cash.
How’s that to do list looking now? If it’s still feeling too long, go back through again and ask yourself what you can delete or delegate.
Now that you have a list of things to do that feels exciting and manageable, set yourself up for success.
Break down each project into bit size pieces. Meaning that once you start the job, you can finish within 20 to 30 minutes and check it off. For example: break down ‘clean the house’ into ‘vacuum the floors, clean the guest bathroom, and wash the dishes’.
Make each item actionable. Start each to do list with a verb (from the example above: vacuum, clean, wash, etc…) Having things like ‘Christmas gifts’ is not only a big item to chew, but is ambiguous because there’s no actual action you can mark completed. You could be thinking of things that fall under the ‘Christmas gifts’ category up until Christmas morning.
Did you like this post? If so let me know in the comments below by telling me one thing you marked off as done by deleting it off your to do list. And subscribe to my list below for weekly posts and special updates that I only send out in email.
