Your To Do List is Hindering You (& What To Do About It!) with Tasha

Tasha shares ideas on how to write good lists that serve us well because sometimes we can make lists that leave us feeling defeated and like we’re falling behind. That’s not what we want! Let’s learn to make lists that help us make progress.

LINKS IN THIS EPISODE:

A JUMPSTART LIST

A jumpstart list is just writing down the next 3-4 things you need to do to up your momentum, for those times when you feel in a slump and maybe a little overwhelmed.

Look around and identify a few things you can write down that can be completed in just a few minutes. Things like picking up the shoes on the floor and putting them away, making the bed, or starting a load of laundry.

The purpose of writing these down isn’t because you think you’ll forget to do them, but the action of checking them off is what will give you a boost and get you going. You’ll see that in just a few minutes you start to see some real visual progress!

A TO DO LIST

There are many types of to do lists you can make – monthly, weekly, or daily. It’s usually much easier to get up in the morning and get started when we know exactly what we need to do.

But sometimes our to do list works against us. That is usually because we’ve actually made a wish list, a list of everything you would like to get done if you had unlimited time, unlimited energy, and no interruptions.

A true to do list is only going to have your non-negotiables for today. It should consist of no more than five things on it. These are the things that when you go to bed at night, you can sleep peacefully knowing you got the most important things done.

A WISH LIST

There is a time and place for a wish list. Some days we do have lots of time and energy and we are able to roll through our list and get tons of things checked off after we’ve finished our non-negotiables.

So, a wish list is the list of things you’d love to get done today IF you have the time and energy, but you aren’t going to feel any guilt if you don’t get those things done today.

A SECRET

Sometimes things that are on your wish list today, tomorrow, and the next day may be moved to your to do list. You may have something that needs to be completed several days from now. It may stay on your wish list for a couple of days, but as that due date gets closer, it’s going to have to move to your to do list because it has become more urgent.

Remember the principle of starting each day with a clean slate. Don’t roll over your to do list and wish list day after day. Each day think about what is most important to you to get done that day.

PROJECTS VS. ACTIONS

One tool to use to help you write better lists is to ask yourself if you are writing projects or are you writing actions on your to do list. Sometimes this can be a challenge to tell the difference right away.

If you’re looking at your to do list and having a hard time getting started, chances are that task is really a project and needs to be broken down into bite sized pieces so that you know what it is that needs to be done next.

BRAIN DUMP

Sometimes your brain feels full and you just need to get all of those things out. Get out a blank piece of paper and just start writing it all down as it comes to you.

You can also do more specific brain dumps. For example, if you have a lot of work related things floating around in your head, just taking the time to write them all down can help you realize that you don’t really have as much to do as you felt you did.

That’s the beauty of the brain dump. It helps you get it all out and release the overwhelm that you were feeling. You can then take it one step further. Once it’s all written out, you can start to categorize.

Highlight, circle, or rewrite on a separate list the tasks that are more important because chances are when you were just getting the ideas out of your head, some of those things aren’t quite as urgent as others. You can then focus on the ones that require immediate action while the other tasks are safely kept on your brain dump list.

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