E183: Taking the Overwhelm Out of Your To Do List
E183: Taking the Overwhelm Out of Your To Do List
Take the overwhelm out of your to do list with prioritization and the actionable techniques I am sharing with you today!
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[00:35] Hey there, welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast. I am your host and Healthy Habit Mentor, Valerie LaVigne. At the time of this episode launch it will be the first of the month. To me, the first of the month, or the first of anything really is an opportunity to organize ourselves, set intentions and goals, and really plan for what’s to come.
Being able to take a step back and look at the big picture goals and timeline can be incredibly helpful for staying focused on our goals, preparing for possible obstacles, events, or changes, and helps prioritize what’s important.
My goal for today’s episode is to share tested and effective time management tools that you can choose from to keep your calendar organized, your efforts productive, while experiencing joy and spaciousness in your everyday life.
These practices have become game-changing habits in my life and business that really started about a decade ago when I remember experiencing a lot of feelings of overwhelm and anxiety around my to do lists and responsibilities. While there were a lot of things that needed to be adjusted at that point of my life, one of the most impactful ones was how I approached my to-do list.
I can remember sharing my feelings of overwhelm with someone and they very honestly told me, “Valerie, if you put as much effort into taking action on your to-do list as you have stressing about the items, you would have probably completed half your list by now.” This was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment because it was SO TRUE! Let this be a reminder to you to take action on something small when you’re stressing about the long list.
With that, let’s start with the “One-Minute Rule” to get you into action. If a task can be completed in under one minute, do it right away. Your to-do list just got a lot shorter.
Reply to that email
Put away your shoes at the front door
Swap your washing to the dryer
Send the reminder text
[03:10] Now let’s organize the to-do list. Organizing the list gives us a starting point, helps us to prioritize, helps overcome procrastination, and ensures we don’t miss things. We can use the “Eisenhower Matrix” to help guide us. This technique is especially helpful for when our to-do list is too long! The Matrix works like this:
Organize your tasks into one of the four quadrants, and identify a colour for each of the quadrants
Important/Urgent (green)
Important/Not Urgent (yellow)
Not Important/Urgent (blue)
Not Important/Not Urgent (red)
DO any/all of the tasks in quadrant one, SCHEDULE all the tasks in quadrant two, DELEGATE all of the tasks in quadrant three, and DELETE all of the tasks in quadrant four.
Always do the urgent and important (green) tasks first because they have the highest priority. If this is a large task like preparing for a presentation, break that larger task down into smaller action steps such as: create slide deck, ask someone to edit presentation, practice presentation, etc.
The not urgent, but important tasks (yellow) generally support a long-term goal. Schedule these into your calendar using time blocking. Consider how much time these tasks require, and schedule them in your calendar according to the length of time they need as well as in relation to their due dates so you are prepared in advance. Once it’s in your schedule, don’t shift it around. It’s there and it’s getting done.
[5:19] Time blocking also helps to avoid task-switching which is a major productivity killer! To help you stay in a flow state, remove distractions such as unnecessary open tabs on your computer, turn off notifications on your phone, Ask roommates or family members to respect your work time boundaries.
Any task that is not important yet urgent (blue) can almost always be delegated or outsourced. For me, these are the tasks I have on my to-do list that just keep getting moved over to the next day and the next day, and the next and they’re just not getting done - at least not by me. Who can you ask for help with these tasks? Who can you hire to get these done and take them off your to-do list?
If it’s not urgent or important (red), does it really need to get done? I think not - delete it! Sometimes these are the tasks where you’re just like “Gosh darn it! If I think about this one more time I’m going to lose my mind!” This has a more mental health urgency, so perhaps this can be completed in one minute, or delegated or just get it off your plate so you can restore that breathing space.
[06:40] One really common reason your to-do list isn’t getting done is because you’re uninspired. Action without intention or purpose is not sustainable. Bring the inspiration back into your daily tasks by:
Changing your work environment
Focusing on a feeling word or intention for how you want to show up that day
Reminding yourself of the bigger goal you’re working toward and how the smaller tasks you’re doing are helping you reach that larger goal
Also re-listen to last week’s episode 182: The Power of Passion and Perseverance are the Keys to Success
Procrastination is another productivity killer. To help you stop procrastinating, get into the habit of creating time boundaries. A great method for this is the Pomodoro Technique. Set a timer for 25 minutes. During this time work on one specific task. After the timer goes off set another timer for 5 minutes to take a break doing something entirely different:
Stretch your body
Grab a snack
Go for a short walk
Drink some water
The 25 minute time sprint is relevant because it’s approximately the amount of time we can focus on a task for the best productivity. One 25 minute sprint and 5 minute break is one pomodoro. After four pomodoros take a longer break of about 15 to 20 minutes before getting back to work.
[08:20] Alright, I want to keep this episode short and sweet cuz I know you have a lot of ish to get done. I saved my most effective productivity tool for last: Time Blocking. I mentioned this briefly a little earlier in this episode, but there are actually a few different ways to look at this and practice this method.
One of the ways is by task batching. This is when you block off a specific amount of time in the calendar to get specific tasks done, and using this for tasks that are similar in nature or perhaps environment. I do this a lot when I’m running errands. I work in a different town than I live in. So if I have errands to run near my studio, I will block off time to run the errands before or after I teach classes, and block time for running errands close to home when I’m on my way home or already in the area.
You can also time block with a daily theme. This works really well for anyone who has multiple businesses or parts of their business. For example if you do client work on Tuesdays and Thursdays and work ON your business on Mondays, and have sales calls on Wednesdays and content creation on Fridays, or something like that. I like doing these in half day chunks as well.
You can also time block using a template for your day. This practice is really helpful for if you are someone who is interested in CHRONOTYPES and using the theory of chronology to understand when in your daily cycle are your best work periods. I practice this more with my monthly cycle with a practice called cycle syncing which works really well for females who track their menstrual cycle.
[10:19] Some tasks to consider adding into short time blocks in your day or week are:
Responding to emails or social media messages and comments. A lot of times we make time to create and post content or respond to the emails, but what about responding to the comments, and the email responses? Add in time for reacting to what you’ve posted/created/sent.
Catch up time. Things happen and can pop up unexpectedly. Block some time off for catching up on tasks or tying up loose ends
BREAKS!!!!!!!!!!!! ADD IN YOUR BREAKS. PLEASE. Schedule in restorative time. Even if that means you’re getting horizontal for 10-15 minutes, getting out in nature, meditation, rest, literally any sort of break. The breaks must be scheduled throughout the day, not at the end of the day only. Breaks are NOT a reward, they are necessary for our productivity.
Speaking of breaks, sleep is a HUGE for getting more done in your day. Prioritize rest and quality sleep into your daily life, you will be amazed by how much energy, focus, and creativity you will have after quality sleep.
Okay friend, that’s it for today! PLUS a list of other podcasts episodes you might enjoy that support productivity:
Episode 115: Master Your To-Do List
Episode 125: Powerful Productivity Practices
Episode 149: Eliminating Overwhelm & Creating Work-Life Balance
Podcast Host
Valerie LaVigne
Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!
