Before you read this I want you to take out your to-do list RIGHT NOW!
Come on… I know you have one.
If you are currently reading this blog post that you, like myself, are similar to so many other athletes, coaches, and entrepreneurs. You my friend, are a go getter!
You have so many things to do everyday that you can’t remember it all. You have to write it down and are constantly updating and checking your to-do list.
Am I right?
At times our to-do list can be exhausting and cause anxious thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Several times I stay up late trying to complete my to-do list which ends up having negative consequences. I lose sleep, can’t turn my mind off when I try to sleep, am tired the next day, and my stress levels increase. Why is it that we let this little sheet of paper control our lives?
I recently was working with a softball player and she was stressed to the max. Her issue wasn’t just her sport though. This is the case with many athletes. Yes, their sport induces stress at times but it’s adding in going to school, assignments, work, eating, sleeping, and finding “me” time that adds more stress. This certain athlete had tryouts coming up, which is stressful in itself, along with tons of assignments, tests, and wanting to participate in a march.
How in the world with all of this going on is she going to focus on being her best at tryouts?!
The answer? BREAK IT DOWN.
I had her write down everything she HAD to do that was causing her stress. We planned out each day for the next week specifically starting when she woke up to when she went to bed. We added in times to eat, ideas for what to eat so she didn’t waste time thinking about that when to fit in homework, prioritize homework, and adding in showering and some TV time.
This is exactly what I want you to do. Break it down into chunks. Now I want you to look at only ONE THING AT A TIME. Instead of looking at the whole list of items, which is overwhelming, ask yourself, “What do I need to do right now?”
That’s all I want you to worry about. One thing at a time. After our plan, my athlete only had to worry about going to bed after we met. In the morning her only concern was waking up, then getting food in her stomach, then packing up her softball equipment, then she can worry about tryouts. She was to not think about tryouts while eating or getting ready. She also was to not think about school and the upcoming assignments during any time except for the time she scheduled for it. After writing this out she felt much more relaxed and confident in knowing that she had a plan and the time to meet her demanding tasks.
If we can focus our minds on one task it will get done sooner and with less stress. Also, once you complete one of your tasks I want you to cross it off. Feel the success and satisfaction of completing an item on your list. No matter how little it may be take pride in that accomplishment.
If you can break your tasks up into chunks it will not seem as stressful and busy. This way you can also add in tasks that you might be holding back on starting because it seems too taxing. I experienced this often with my consulting company, The Mental Clutch. It seemed my to-do list was never-ending.
I wanted to design a website, start blogging and create an email list. These were huge and daunting tasks to me. It’s almost one year later and I have completed all three. Do not let time dictate your to-do list unless it has a deadline in reality. As long as it gets done, that’s all that matters.
One of the reasons I waited so long to blog and create my email list was because I wanted it to be perfect. I worried about what content to put into it, how readers will perceive it, and let my worst critic, my mind, get to me. Getting it done though is better than waiting for perfection.
I finally decided to break it into chunks and day by day I would add ideas for blogs, start writing, and just publish them, even when I thought they could be better. For my email list, I focused more on getting the email out there instead of spending so much time on adding just the right content. Getting it done is better than waiting for perfection. How come? Because perfection will never come! If I waited for that I still to this day will not have any blogs or an email list.
We, as a society, are so focused on the final product that we take longer to finish the stuff we are working on. Whether that’s writing a blog, posting something on social media, working on a project, creating a presentation, etc. JUST GET ER DONE!
What if we just buckled down and focused on getting it done instead of worrying about it being perfect. There may always be a typo, misspelled word, or other types of errors. There may always be something we could have done better or explained more clearly. But this is how we learn to make the NEXT presentation, blog, project, or post even better.
Instead of waiting for it to be perfect (which probably will never happen) just get it done so you can mark it off your to-do list and focus on the next thing.
I hope this post revved up your motivation to hit your to-do list, break it down, focus on one task at a time, and GET ER DONE!
