Doesn’t it feel like time is slipping away? Like there just aren’t enough minutes in a day to clear your checklists and feel like you actually DID something?
Busy professionals and stay at home parents have this in common: there just isn’t enough time to get it ALL done.
In the beginning of a week, we’ve got high hopes. We’re making lists of ALL the things we WANT to get done and ALL the things we HAVE to get done. A part of us believes that these lists can be knocked out in the next seven days. Hashtag we believe! ;)
But then something happens. Life. It interrupts our checklists and douses our motivational fires. We quickly realize that “it just won’t happen this week” and that we’ll have to try to knock those tasks out “another day.”
I’m not going to argue with this reality.
However, I want us to consider something for just five minutes. Can you spare 5?
We don’t have to do EVERYTHING on those lists.
We don’t.
In fact, we just need to do the tasks that are due NOW. We must prioritize our lists and crop them down to manageable, achievable jobs.
So here’s your solution.
Grab your massive to-do list for this week and circle all the tasks that need to be done TODAY. Not tomorrow. Just today. These are the items you’re going to make time to complete.
But how do we MAKE TIME when it’s clearly ticking away even as you read this? It’s not as hard as we think.
Jot down how many minutes it will take to complete the jobs next to each circled task. Ignore the uncircled. You’re not focusing on those because they aren’t DUE TODAY. (Once you finish your tasks for today, you can rewrite your list ---- but take heed that rewriting isn’t just an excuse to avoid completing what’s actually ON your list.)
Busy professionals and stay at home parents have this in common: there just isn’t enough time to get it ALL done.
In the beginning of a week, we’ve got high hopes. We’re making lists of ALL the things we WANT to get done and ALL the things we HAVE to get done. A part of us believes that these lists can be knocked out in the next seven days. Hashtag we believe! ;)
But then something happens. Life. It interrupts our checklists and douses our motivational fires. We quickly realize that “it just won’t happen this week” and that we’ll have to try to knock those tasks out “another day.”
I’m not going to argue with this reality.
However, I want us to consider something for just five minutes. Can you spare 5?
We don’t have to do EVERYTHING on those lists.
We don’t.
In fact, we just need to do the tasks that are due NOW. We must prioritize our lists and crop them down to manageable, achievable jobs.
So here’s your solution.
Grab your massive to-do list for this week and circle all the tasks that need to be done TODAY. Not tomorrow. Just today. These are the items you’re going to make time to complete.
But how do we MAKE TIME when it’s clearly ticking away even as you read this? It’s not as hard as we think.
Jot down how many minutes it will take to complete the jobs next to each circled task. Ignore the uncircled. You’re not focusing on those because they aren’t DUE TODAY. (Once you finish your tasks for today, you can rewrite your list ---- but take heed that rewriting isn’t just an excuse to avoid completing what’s actually ON your list.)
Now, look at your schedule for the day. Where can you plug in each of these tasks so that they will get finished TODAY?
Write in your to-do list tasks into your schedule. We MUST make time for these activities if we ever want to see them completed. Just having the tasks on a list doesn’t finish them. Planning for them does.
When we’re intentional about our to-do lists, things get done.
Tonight, at the end of your day, look back at your big to-do list. See those circled items that you wanted to finish TODAY? Cross off all the ones that actually got done.
How did you do?
I guarantee that you accomplished MORE because you consciously PLANNED to do more. Instead of hanging out at the water cooler and shooting the breeze, you took those five minutes to order the mosquito treatment on your yard. Instead of getting lost in a day dream in between activities, you swapped out the laundry and folded the first dried load. You started on dinner when you needed to instead of waiting until the last minute. Your child finished his homework without a battle because you were “100% there and aware” to help. You even got that blog post finished and updated all your social media for your business.
You accomplished MORE because you MADE TIME to do more. The minutes didn’t slip away today.
The minutes won’t slip away tomorrow either, if you just continue to prioritize and make time to accomplish what you must.
Need help getting control of your schedule? Check out our post on Time Blocking to get the most out of your daily routines.
Write in your to-do list tasks into your schedule. We MUST make time for these activities if we ever want to see them completed. Just having the tasks on a list doesn’t finish them. Planning for them does.
When we’re intentional about our to-do lists, things get done.
Tonight, at the end of your day, look back at your big to-do list. See those circled items that you wanted to finish TODAY? Cross off all the ones that actually got done.
How did you do?
I guarantee that you accomplished MORE because you consciously PLANNED to do more. Instead of hanging out at the water cooler and shooting the breeze, you took those five minutes to order the mosquito treatment on your yard. Instead of getting lost in a day dream in between activities, you swapped out the laundry and folded the first dried load. You started on dinner when you needed to instead of waiting until the last minute. Your child finished his homework without a battle because you were “100% there and aware” to help. You even got that blog post finished and updated all your social media for your business.
You accomplished MORE because you MADE TIME to do more. The minutes didn’t slip away today.
The minutes won’t slip away tomorrow either, if you just continue to prioritize and make time to accomplish what you must.
Need help getting control of your schedule? Check out our post on Time Blocking to get the most out of your daily routines.
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