October 19th, 2012 Too Much To Do …. Or Too Much NOT To Do?
I’ve had a life-long battle with an overloaded to-do list. And yes, I make to-do lists. Quite faithfully. I not only make them, I use them, thoughtfully writing down all the tasks, errands, chores, projects, and missions that I would like to complete. When I’ve finished a task, I feel great satisfaction in making a little check mark next to a completed task and then drawing a nice, straight line through the item on the list. Done.
Over the years, I’ve learned how to get things done, but I’m still a work in progress. I’ve scoured the virtual shelves at Amazon and Audible and kept a steady stream of book packages and digital downloads on how to get things done flowing to the house. I enjoyed the simple approach in Leo Babauta’s Less is More, the obsessive-compulsive part of me appreciated the more complex approach in David Allen’s Getting Things Done.
As I started my journey of simplifying my life I became aware that an overloaded to-do list was a symptom of a cluttered life. Specifically, I realized that sometimes I get paralyzed in completing things on my list because there are just too many things on the list. Choosing to complete one task meant choosing NOT to do several others. “Which ones won’t I do?” was a much harder question than “Which ones will I do?” In fact, it was so hard that I would often not even face the decision and in effect the choice was made for me … I did nothing.
This is one area where simplifying your life can have a real impact. Stepping back to see the big picture of your life and your activities, will first of all make it clear that you will never, ever, really get it all done. Accepting that can be hard, especially if you are a goal-oriented individual.
But accepting that it will never all get done is also liberating. The to-do list becomes just an endless scroll with some things accomplished, some erased, and some stubbornly remaining, unchanged, on the list. As the scroll rolls on, the pressure is relieved from trying to do it all. You realize that it is not a test; it is not a measurement of your worth or your competence. The things that don’t get done will probably work themselves out. The to-do list flows on. Nothing more, nothing less.
I still have many moments when I find myself in the frenzy of trying to get every last thing done. I’m getting better at pausing and realizing that often when I do the one or two most important things, then there seems to be a subtle shift which makes many other things seem to fall into place. So now I’m working on making my focus be to work on the one or two priorities as though they are the only items on my list. That can be hard to get started on, but much easier to do once I’ve begin the task and have settled into the flow of working toward completion.
In a later post, I’ll share some of the methods I’ve learned from my reading and following advice on time management and goal setting. Meantime, though, there is magic in the acceptance that not everything will get done. It makes it so much easier to choose what not to do by choosing what most definitely I will do.
How about you? Do you make t0-do lists? Do you get everything done?
In peace,
Patti
