Why ignoring your to-do list is the best decision you’ll ever make.

Because what you really want is to be able to close down your laptop and put a clear end to work every. Single. Day.

But your reality is that you never take time off from your to-do list, because you said you’d quit when it got crossed off, and people keep adding tasks to your plate!

Like what this client told me: It's all the little 5, 10, and 30 minute tasks that need to be done. I am getting the big important things done, but then there is so much other stuff that just seems never ending!

Yikes, yes - that’s a recipe for disaster. 

Living in a family AND running a profitable business are both going to keep tossing new task lists on your plate! (Plus you also want to give yourself time to recharge every day.)

So here’s how we’re going to fit all of that in….

You’ve got this!

Alyssa

Love your daily life as a work-at-home mom: https://yourunbusylife.com/ 

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Transcript

This is the Unbusy Mom, and today we’re talking about why ignoring your to-do list is the best decision you’ll ever make.

What you REALLY want: to be able to close down your laptop and put a clear end to work every. Single. Day.

Your reality: you never take time off from your to-do list, because you said you’d quit when it got crossed off, and people keep adding tasks to your plate!

So what’s the frustrated, working overtime, “when is this going to stop” mompreneur - aka, you - going to do THEN?

(Why, change something, of course!)

Take what this client told me: It's all the little 5, 10, and 30 minute tasks that need to be done. I am getting the big important things done, but then there is so much other stuff that just seems never ending!

Yikes, yes - that’s a recipe for disaster. By which I mean energy overload disaster. Either living in a family OR running a profitable business are gonna keep tossing new task lists on your plate, and here you’re dealing with both!

But you also have this value of giving yourself time to recharge every day. (Good job.) So here’s how we’re going to fit this in….

(And look, I didn’t even *start* the business stuff till I’d handled and streamlined my mom life. Not because I *chose* it to be that way - because I hadn’t even *heard* about online business! So this is *my* story, and *you* don’t have to do it that way. You’re *allowed* to start your business *before* everything on the mom life side of things is handled. I’m just saying, if you’re experiencing a block right now in your business task list, you probably need to look at the *mom life* side of things and clear the blocks *there*.)

So what you’re going to need to do here is ruthlessly triage everything up front. By which I mean, did either of these family or business things NEED to be done right this weekend? This afternoon? Today?

Often they’re just “on your radar” reminders that something needs to happen SOON - but they’re not to the level of “drop everything and run to get van tags renewed before they expire TODAY.”

In which case, YOU’RE the one taking on too much work, by never asking whether you even NEED to have this on your to-do list for today!

I want you to have a firmly tiered system for today, this week, next week, this month, and “at some point in the future.” Those are the ONLY five categories you’re allowed to have. (For business, and for personal.)

Because you’ve got to have this new expectation set like cement that you don’t need to work till you drop; that EVERY single thing on your to-do list DOESN’T have to be handled by you; and that you DESERVE to cut back a little on your work hours so you can take the kids to the park and recharge yourself after with a book.

It’s all mindset.

And if this new pop-up task really DOES belong on your plate - ask that first of EVERYTHING before you even touch it - then give yourself the internal gut check of “but when does this HAVE to get done?” and go with THAT deadline. Okay?

You’re going to clear a LOT of your internal “must refill the multivitamins and find out what we’re bringing to the community group potluck and get the ingredients for that and buy more pants for my son ‘cause he wore through at the knees and journal out what my coach asked me to on our last session” and and and.

• Can I pop “more multivitamins” on my calendar for 3 weeks from now and call it good? (They aren’t out YET.)
• Do I have to be the one to decide the hot dish menu, or can I ask my preteens what they think would be fun to take and text me an ingredient list after they decide?
• Does your son NEED more pants right this minute, or is it still shorts weather and you just have to have his new jeans in hand by September first? (August jeans shopping on the calendar!)
• What if I put “journaling on visibility blocks” on the to-do list for next week, before our next session, rather than doing it right now? (It’s still getting done.)

See? There you are delegating, seeing when the REAL deadlines are, and bumping things OFF your to-do list for today…. 

Which means YOU get to go take that break as usual, because YOU didn’t actually need to do anything else today.

Poof, done, mental “oh no I have to keep working” mindset block cleared.

You’re welcome.