Something I often hear is, “Wow, you’re SO busy!” (Anyone else cringe and hold back an eye roll when they hear those words directed towards them?) Sometimes I just smile shyly and laugh it off, other times I answer with a response of “I have an abundant schedule and love everything I do.”
One of the meanings of the word “busy” is to “keep occupied” (I looked it up in the online dictionary) and I feel like the things I’ve purposely chosen to include in my life are far more important than just random activities to occupy my time. They are the activities which bring joy to our family.
A person can be busy without being productive. I remember a time when I was really busy but not at all productive. I felt like I was spinning in circles and never accomplishing anything, other than feeling stressed out and anxious. I was mastering those feelings and it was awful. When my spinning got to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore, I decided I needed to make some changes.
I realized that I needed to value my time and forget about perfectionism. When I realized that I shouldn’t wait for things to be just right before beginning them things got much better. I was able to jump into tasks and get them started without a fear of doing them “wrong” because the conditions weren’t perfectly perfect. I learned that it’s OK to make mistakes and learn and grow from them.
When I am productive, I feel joy. It’s satisfying for me to accomplish a task and to be able to cross it off my to-do list.
I work full time (from home) as a homeschool teacher for Inspire Charter Schools, go to school at UCSD (online), and homeschool my 3 children (preschool, kinder, and 2nd grade).
I have to prioritize my time and the main way I do that is with a daily to-do list. I live by my to-do list and several of those items are must-dos. They are the most important and get top priority during the day.
The other items on the list are flexible and may be bumped to a different day depending on my schedule. I’ve given myself the freedom to let them go until the next day (or sometimes later) and not feel like a failure for not getting everything on my list accomplished every day.
How can you do this for yourself?
Here are 5 steps to help you get a handle on your to do list:
- Create a list of your tasks each day (I usually make my list the evening before)
- Identify must dos (star them) vs. flexible items
- Eat a frog: do the biggest/most important/hardest/scariest thing first (If you haven’t read Brian Tracy’s book Eat That Frog, you should!)
- Be flexible
- Know when something isn’t serving you and take it off your schedule completely
You must VALUE your time – it’s precious and we only have a limited quantity of 24 hours each day. Be willing to let go of things that aren’t serving you (or your family) well.
And lastly, the most important piece of advice I can give to you is to forget perfectionism! It prevents tasks from being started and completed. It’s OK to let your flex items go unfinished until the next day (or even the weekend) and trust yourself that the will be completed, they just don’t all have to be completed in the same day!
Which of these 5 steps are you most excited to implement in your life? How are you going to do it? Tell me in a comment!
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