Seems I have always struggled with a large ‘To-Do’ list. The jury is still out on whether this is due to me having an accommodating personality, a high desire to take on projects or multiple other character traits, some more flattering than others. Whatever the cause, there always seems to be plenty to do.
In both our work and home lives, I believe all of us have times when we face a pile of things to do and get overwhelmed with what we actually can do. Having picked up many tips over the years through books, seminars and good old fashioned friendly advice, I have developed two strategies to help me through that point where I feel especially overwhelmed.
two STRATEGIES
The first strategy is a way to sort out and deal with the reality of sticky notes, phone calls, and emails that create a demand on us every day. Perhaps things are coming at you from every direction like a mob of mosquitoes faster than you can swat back at them, or maybe you are facing a large project and do not know where to start. This is where you take charge by changing your ‘To-Do’ list into a ‘Can-Do’ list.
The second concept is to create a ‘To-Don’t‘ list. Your ‘To-Don’t‘ list is to keep you from getting a back log of things to do. To learn about this concept check out my post: Focus on the negative: Create a ‘To-Don’t’ list!
take INVENTORY
To start, take an inventory of everything that you need to do. Don’t think too hard about it, this is not the time to spend energy prioritizing, just jot them down as quickly as they come to mind. Pull together a list of everything that is either on sticky notes, in front of you on your email, the messages from the blinking light on your desk phone, as well as those pesky feelings in the back of your head: ‘still need to cal mom’. Get everything on one piece of paper in no particular order. Go ahead, do it now…no time like the present!
Did you account for everything? Ready for the next step? Now that you have everything in front of you, you may feel a little overwhelmed, but that is alright because this is where we start to have fun. Below is a snapshot of my list for now.
someone else CAN DO IT
The first question to ask yourself is: What can someone else do? In others words, delegate. Take a look through your list and look at each item. Ask yourself: Do I need to do this? Can someone else do this? Then anything that can be given away gets sent to someone else or put on your new delegation list. Some people like to highlight items into different categories while others add a code or start a new separated list altogether. Whatever style works for you is the best answer. Either way you choose to deal with them, take a minute to pause and send them to the delegated party. Once again, do this now before you go on to the next step. Here is what I have done with my list.
later this CAN BE DONE
I know, procrastination is not a good habit. However there are things on our list, projects that need follow up, reports that need to be run and so on, that can not be done until either a certain time of day, or until we hear back from someone else. All of these tasks can not be done yet. To deal with these look through your list and ask a new question: When can this be done? This could also include lower priority items that could be done now but do not need to be done immediately. So in this way you are not procrastinating, just clearing time to get the right things done now. This also helps me alleviate the overwhelming feeling of having tasks on my ‘To-Do’ list that realistically can not be done right now. Below is an update to my list so far.
The next question to ask yourself is: What can I do now? Look through your remaining items and everything left should be able to be done right away with little to no obstacles. List these out on a new list or highlight them so that you have a clear and manageable ‘Can-Do’ list. As well as having a list that is not so overwhelming, you also have a clear breakdown of when you can accomplish the remaining items on your list.
Congratulations, you have a clear plan of action now with a newly created ‘Can-Do’ list. How are you feeling now? Hopefully a little less overwhelmed and a ready to take on the world. Once you clean up your list it may look a bit like my updated list below.
Start working through the items on your newly created ‘Can-Do; list one at a time based on both priority and size of task. Don’t beat yourself up for doing a lower priority task if it is a quick thing. However only do this once or twice between bigger more important items. Crossing things off your list makes you feel good, however, be careful not to race through the smaller, less important tasks just for the sake of crossing them off. This leaves you with a false sense of accomplishment and interferes with your need to get to the big fish. One trick that has worked well for me is to alternate a couple small, quick tasks between bigger, more important issues. This allows me to achieve the feeling of completing tasks, while also giving my brain a little down time before I start the next marathon.
Thank you for taking the time to try this out. What other tricks do you use to manage your ‘To-Do’ list? Please share them in the comments section below.
Andy Vargo is a motivational speaker, life coach and comedian who challenges you to ‘Own Your Awkward’. He is the author of the Awkward Journal series, host of the podcast, Own Your Awkward, and shares thoughts and ideas in his blog and video series available at awkwardcareer.com.
Originally published on LinkedIn