In times of rest, my mind is often busy planning my next several moves. Sometimes this is useful – on the bus I jot down blog post ideas, or I break down tasks for a big project. Other times a busy mind is the worst – waking up before my alarm and lying there while my mind spins a list of what I need to do that day; anxiety mounts, but I’m not doing or writing anything down.
On any given day you have a lot to do at work, home, for yourself, your family, your friends. When there’s a lot to do but no plan, it’s easy to get Option Paralysis:
where-do-I-start-everything-is-important-everything-will-take-so-long-how-do-I-prioritize?
Yuck. Here’s how to avoid going down that rabbit hole:
Have a Big List. Then Small Lists. Keep lists of things you need to do in notebooks or spreadsheets. For each day pick several items and put them on a small list, such as a post-it note or into your daily schedule. Looking at the big list and seeing so few crossed-out items compared to waiting ones is discouraging. But seeing a list of five items that keep getting crossed out is a vision of achievement.
Estimate Times. How long will each of today’s tasks take? If you think you can get thirty things done, this will give you a reality check real quick. Estimate a time for each item, erring on the side of more time. Remember how many hours are in a day. As soon as you’re over a certain number of hours, call it quits.
Schedule Variety. It’s unfun and unproductive to do the exact same things for hours upon hours. Vary your tasks: schedule months’ worth of social media posts, clean the bathroom, prepare for a meeting, cook lasagne, check email, research the presentation. By all means, schedule easy things as well! It’s satisfying to cross things off the list, even if they only took 5 minutes to complete.
Keep a Done List. See You’re More Productive Than You Think
I use Laura Vanderkam’s 168 Hours spreadsheet (which you can get by subscribing to her newsletter) to track my time and To Do list, or I use post-it notes with times written beside each task.
Plan your To Dos the evening or day before (or by week, if you’re into that). When you wake up, you know your tasks are covered. Yet even on planned days my mind jumps into useless action before my body is ready. I tell my mind to take a hike. No point in obsessing over things that I’ve already allotted time to do. Time is also needed to relax.
(photo source here)
