Today we talk about lists. I know I'm not alone and there are many more like me who need to make lists to function...like oxygen. Right? Right.
I'd write down everything I needed to do, big/small/important/not important. I realized that this wasn't helping me at all quite the opposite. It was making me less productive and pointlessly overwhelmed.
Making realistic lists is something I struggle with all the time.
Every day I write new lists filled with all the tasks and general to-dos for that day. I re-write these lists if I think they are too messy or if I run out of room (fellow Virgos you get me right?). I got to a point not long ago where my lists started to stress me instead of helping me find organizational bliss.
Let me break it down for you, here is what happens
One: I have my morning coffee or afternoon coffee which leaves me feeling awake, motivated and over ambitious.
Two: I start jotting down everything I'm going to get done when I get home from work..I try to keep in mind to be realistic but somehow that goes out the window and before I know it I have a list with 15 things on it.
Three: Expectations - get home. power through the list, looking fabulous while I do it...work it girl
Four: Reality - get home...6pm. Look at the list. Feel overwhelmed. Waste an hour doing nothing trying to figure out where to start until inevitably I give up and waste time on bloglovin to trick myself into thinking I'm being productive...there I said it!
Five: Review my list at the end of day, realize I got extremely little done and feel guilty about letting myself down.
And so, my journey to making a conscious effort to make lists I can actually finish began. When I'd catch myself starting to get list happy I'd stop take a moment and ask myself “Anna are you really going to get this done today? Do you have time for it?” Think woman, think.
TIP: I also started breaking things down more. There is something magical about crossing a task off your to-do list, it's a mini serge of energy and you feel productive and ready to tackle the next task...bring it!
Instead of saying 'Edit Emily Photographs' it would now be: Upload, back up, choose selects, edit in lightroom, final touches in Photoshop. That’s five things instead of one.
When you're trying to get through a to-do list and you've been working for 5+ hours and you STILL can't cross something off, that's going to quickly make you feel deflated....this is usually when I write something on the list that I already did just to cross it off. From doing this many times I now generally write something on my to-do list even though I did it already just to cross it off and feel freaking amazing...
It’s not cheating its productivity insurance my friends.
Hope this helps all you list happy people just like me :)
Enjoy, xo
Quote of the day:
"Always believe that something wonderful is about to happen"
I can't function without a list!
ReplyDeleteI like how you also made sure to prioritize working out & time for yourself in there :)
Balance is key! I get overwhelmed with edits sometimes, and my wrist does too!