We are all guilty of claiming to not have enough time. The days, weeks and months fly by and before you know it, time has escaped us and our looming task lists have become overwhelming.
Do you find yourself moving unchecked items off today’s to do list and putting them on tomorrow’s, and then the next day’s? I am completely guilty! The struggle is real friends — very real.
Without a plan, we tend to spin in circles, waist time and give up. I tend to be an epic procrastinator when it comes to the tasks I least enjoy. For example, I do not mind throwing clothes in the washer and dryer, or even folding them but I despise putting them away. I’ll fold everything and then it will sit on my floor forever before I finally muster up the umph to just do it already. Knowing the piles are sitting there waiting for me is like an annoying inner voice that keeps repeating, “I’m here, you still need to do this.” Oh put a sock in it already! When I finally get around to putting it all away, the voice is gone and I have more peace in my life. Crazy how socks in a drawer can give one inner peace right?
Ever have one of those days when the heaven’s open and you are a task master, checking it all off your list and feeling incredible? Feelings of accomplishment are grand! When we are able to get on a roll, the more we do, the more we are able to get done. The exact opposite of procrastination. Granted, this is not always possible but we have more control than we think.
So what can we do to chip away at the never ending cycle of stuff we just don’t have time for? Here are three tips that will hopefully make a dent:
- Prioritize your to do’s. What must get done today and what can be placed on the back burner in case you have extra time? If you target just a few “must do’s” you will feel accomplished when you are able to check them off at the end of the day. Hitting any of the extras, well, that is the dairy free icing on the gluten free cake!
- Explore life hacks! Have you ever googled this? Seriously friends…there is an entire Hack Universe out there at our fingertips. What is it you need hacks for? Laundry, food prep, organizing your mudroom? If you can think of it…there is a 99.9% chance some genius with way too much time on their hands has not only developed a hack, but found the time to put it out in cyberspace for YOU to benefit from! We may hate them for having so much time on their hands but hey, maybe it’s due to the fact they are experts at hacking through life?
- Set reminders. Once you have established which must-do’s need to happen on a particular day, set aside the time you will need to complete them and go ahead and put it in your calendar with a reminder. It could be as simple as “10:00am – 1:00pm > Must Do’s”. If you set the time aside, just as you would for an important meeting or appointment, you are setting yourself up for success.
Try it for a week and see if it makes a difference. I have found it incredibly fulfilling to see items getting checked off my daily must-do list. I use the free Wunderlist app to categorize my to-do’s and love that it syncs on all of my devices. You can even share lists with family members if that’s your thing.
Remember that life happens, and even the best laid out plans can be forced to change. Sure, we may get frustrated and stressed when we don’t accomplish all of the things we set out to do on any given day. The fact is, life is organic, it is constantly shifting and changing. We need to buckle up because we are just along for the ride.
Rather than focusing on what we did not get to, or the to-do’s that inevitably had to get moved to tomorrow’s list…let’s celebrate any and all things we did do! Yay us!
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