Balancing Both Ep. 2: The ONE trick to declutter your to-do list as a working mom (plus a peek at mine!)

You’ve already put the need-to-get-done items ON that CEO to-do list.....

Why don’t you live by the triage method and be the boss of your to-do list?

It’s time to think critically about what’s ON your to-do list, not just show up to cross it off.

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 the ONE trick to declutter your to-do list (plus a peek at mine!).

One of the MOST important skills you’ve got as a CEO is the ability to triage your business to-do list – instantly.

Because when you’re asking yourself....

• Should I be writing that launch email today?
• Is my deadline for that talking head video really this week?
• Do we need to push up our holiday promo brainstorming session this year?

....You’re learning to think critically about what’s ON your to-do list, not just show up to be overwhelmed BY it.

Because no, just checking everything off won’t help. You’ll still be stressed by how long you had to work past supper to fit it all in (when you really wanted to take your kids to the park before all the leaves disappeared).

And yes, you got everything done, but your brainspace was straight up in stress-out frazzle mode while you kept checking the clock as you were at it. (‘Cause YOU didn’t know you’d be able to cross everything off!)

Instead, why don’t you live by the triage method, and be the boss of your to-do list?

Yes, do the best you can to only put sensible items ON that CEO to-do list.....

But when you get there for that day, that week, or that month, just give yourself a gut check on how much is on it. 

• Do you REALLY need to be doing that today?
• Is that an arbitrary deadline at the end of this week? (When’s it really due – this quarter?)
• Are you putting too much pressure on yourself to front load the week with EVERYTHING important, instead of looking at how much capacity you have day to day? (And then building in a little extra wiggle room, ‘cause #momlife?)

See, if the podcast inspiration’s not flowing yet – but you can pretty much guarantee it will in 10 days when you’re in ovulation phase – then it’s really a SMART thing to do to bump that line item till 2 weeks from now, swap in a “doesn’t matter if I’m not at full energy” task, and make sure that your audience is getting the best possible content from you (by not creating till you’re in “fire” not “check boxes” mode).

See what I mean?

Every time I get that niggly feeling that I’ve got too much on today’s to do list to ACTUALLY finish it inside of normal work hours, I run through this triaging checklist in my head.

And sure enough, there’s always SOMETHING that didn’t need to be done right this minute – just had to be turned in by Friday – that I can push off to give myself some breathing room today while I’m planning my kid’s birthday party and calculating how much lasagna I’m going to have to make for 15 people.

(That bumped sales copy will still get done – I always meet my deadlines – but I’m giving myself the grace to not do it TODAY while I’m all in “stress out about the food” mode. I can get to it tomorrow with a clear head, knowing that my hostess duties are all taken care of.)

And guess what – you can even do this with your 2nd string to-do list! You know, the one where you stuff all those “should I buy this course or not” reminders or “I should get around to emailing that business contact” ones.

Last time I did this, I scheduled another follow-up call with a coach I was thinking about working with, because I hadn’t decided by the end of our first call and I knew I wasn’t in the right head space to make an informed, unrushed decision about her offer.

It wasn’t NECESSARY to decide right then. So I rescheduled a 2nd session a few weeks out to give me time to think about her package when I wasn’t sure that saying yes was the right answer, but I couldn’t put my finger on why right at that moment.

(Spoiler alert: waiting 3 weeks was not being rude to her, and I did indeed get to a settled decision by just giving myself some time. By then a few other things had happened in the business that made a yes/no answer obvious.)

Because there’s no reason for you to stress out about your workload each and every day – you’ve got enough stressors going on with your kids, for goodness’ sake! - and I’d FAR rather have you bump a couple to-do’s from your list each week, then be able to show UP for them (and your clients) with ease and excitement and flow, than have you check off each and every single line item on your personal Asana to-do list – at the cost of your mindset, your margin, and your mommy memories.

It’s not worth it. Not at that price.

Don’t go for constant perfectionism; let yourself relax into margin, and you’ll be a MUCH happier entrepreneur with kids.

(And if you need a mindset reboot to rewire all these decades of “Work first! Never skip! You’re being lazy!” programming, then just join me in Mompreneur Made Easy, where resetting your internal work meter is going to be my first priority!)