Get Ahead of Your To-Do List
Last week I accepted a part-time position that added about 17 hours to my week. Should I have said, it subtracted the seventeen hours?
It really does not matter, right? What matters is that my family’s routine is totally screwed and now I have to figure out new ways to make everything run smoothly, have meals on the table, make sure everything gets done, and I keep my sanity.
I am one of those people who thrive on busy. The more I have to do, the better I do it. It has nothing to do with the last minute tasks. I just feel like I am able to focus better when I am not scattered all over the place.
Today I am pulling out the old guns, the same techniques I used in college while teaching high school full time and working on my thesis for the Master’s Degree. Same approaches I used while working full time, tutoring, and being in charge of a youth program at church. Very same method that helped me pull it together when I moved continents. And then states.
It all starts with one VERY IMPORTANT STEP.
1. Impeccable self-care.
If you are wondering why in world this is step one when there is so much that needs to be done, let me ask you this. Are you always the one who has to wait? Are your needs the needs that can be taken care of later? Are you tired of pushing yourself in the corner for the greater good?
Just a few years ago I had pushed myself so deep into that corner that the world started to seem like a never ending list of never ending chores. I was feeling hopeless and my life was starting to feel meaningless. What is the point of doing the dishes if they are going to be messed up the next hour? Why would I keep trying to keep the kids’ room picked up if it all is going to be dumped out in a matter of minutes? Why get dressed? - Nobody is coming to drop by and I will just mess up another set of clothes and make my laundry pile bigger.
I realized then and there that if I didn't start to take better care of myself, I would become a person I never wanted my husband to have for a wife or my kids to have for a mother.
I learned that even though pedicures are delightful, they don’t fill me with the energy and positivity. My impeccable self-care comes from alone time, time I devote to reading, walking outside, dancing.
What activities fill your heart? What makes you let out a satisfied sigh? Do that. Do it often.
If you are taking care of yourself, you will be able to take care of everyone else.
2. Write everything down.
I like to keep a journal or a notebook accessible at all times, use the Notes app on my phone or something similar. The main idea is to keep all the notes in one place and not scattered through the office/house/car on separate sticky notes.
Very soon you will notice that some tasks keep appearing on your list over and over again. Those are the ones that keep sitting in the back of your mind and take the brain power from the work that needs to be done.
Just like a smartphone, the brain collects junk files. Just like the smartphone, if those junk files are not taken care of, they will drain the power from your brain. We don’t want that, do we?
To free the brain from junk files, add them to your list. Once you see which ones keep coming back, spend a couple of minutes deciding if they are really that important or it is something that can be left alone.
For example, if you notice the same “ send the Christmas cards” showing on your list in November/December all you need to do is act on it. If it is still on your list in February, it is time to ditch that idea and free your brain space for something else. Do you see how the same idea can be a VIP file or a JUNK file depending on your own circumstance?
At night before bedtime, go through your list and highlight only the tasks that need to be done tomorrow. I like to ask myself if these activities are urgent. Then, which of the urgent ones are truly important.
Why is it important to have it done the night before? This activity allows you to free up some space and recharge your brain while you are sleeping without those nasty JUNK files in the background.
What is going to happen to all the other urgent or maybe not so important items? They are on your list so they will not perish. The following night, before highlighting, go a few days back on your lists and re-assess their importance. If still important, copy and paste. If not - JUNK file.
Be realistic about what you can do in a day.
It sounds like this piece of advice is applicable to over-achievers only, but the truth is that everyone can benefit from it. Being realistic about your day and allowing yourself to under-set your goals allows your brain to cheer when you those items get checked off your list. The happy hormone, dopamine, is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional responses, and it enables us not only to see rewards but to take action to move toward them. So once you make your brain happy about crossing something off your list, your brain will start looking for ways to get more items crossed off the same list.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true also. When you lose and don’t get done what was on your list, you feel discouraged and upset, your brain does all in its power to help you avoid those emotions again by steering you clear from any lists and tasks, leading you into a procrastination trap.
In a nutshell, if you think you can get six tasks done, write down four as your primary goal and the other two as your flexible goal. Make sure, though, to not add the VIP tasks to flexibles, yes? This way if the four are done and no time for the other two, you are still golden! If you still have time for the other two, well, you did a fantastic job today!
3. Find a way to celebrate every time you check an item off.
This is a big deal. Only celebrating will tell your brain to release dopamine. That’s how you train your brain to get things done.
Happy brain equals productive brain. Self-care makes up happy. Using highlighters and bright color coding systems make our brain sing! Crossing things off the above mentioned list, and celebrating each achievement, will make your brain want to get more things done. Because it feels so good!!!
How to celebrate? Great question!
Include as many senses as you can.
Ticking it off on your computer or phone - add a touch tone.
Do a little happy dance.
Reward yourself with a stroll around the office and a friendly chit-chat with a co-worker.
Get a cup of coffee. Or tea. Or a glass of water.
Make sure your celebration is visual (include something you can see, such as a thick line all the way across the goal), auditory (whisper “yeah!” as you are slowly crossing the thing off your list), and tactile (by using a marker that glides over the paper).
Get creative in how you reward your brain and your brain will reward you!
Do you feel like you have been trying your best but the mornings are dragging and it’s so hard to focus on what’s important? In my Spark Your Productivity worksheet I walk you through 7 quick steps to help you reset your expectations, sharpen your focus, and jumpstart your productivity.
Blog: lubacarlson.com
Bio:Luba has been going through major transformations since before she was a teenager. Change of schools. A father who became addicted to alcohol and took upon abusive ways with his family. Her country that had fallen apart. Becoming a Christian. Rejecting a church that had very little to do with Christianity. Moving to a different country, different continent, all the way across the world.
Finding the new her. Adapting to the new culture. Getting in touch with her root-self instead of conforming to the expectations of others. Not giving into the pressure but searching, researching, re-inventing and defining who she is. What she is.
She has done this so many times that it started to become a proven step-by-step system.
Luba helps others to connect to their root-self and become the leading force in their life so that they can design the life they want to live.
