You have too much to do. And it doesn’t feel good.
So you put together a list. And keep discovering there’s always one more thing to add and then another.
The list is overwhelming. Should you do all of them? Can you do all of them today?
If not, which are the ones you feel you need to get done as soon as possible?
Tick-tock.
Time keeps moving, whilst there you are stuck, debating what really needs your attention.
We hold all kinds of beliefs about what we need to do to be successful. What we need to do to be the best us possible or what we need to do just to be productive.
Truth be told many of these beliefs about what works and what doesn’t turn out not to be a one size fits all kind of thing. Some of the beliefs we hold just completely derail our progress.
And the good news is we aren’t stuck with beliefs that don’t serve us.
Mastering yourself
Someone once said that “Time equals life; therefore, waste your time and waste your life, or master your time and master your life.”
But is it really about mastering time, or mastering ourselves?
And mastering ourselves in relation to time is all about our perceptions.
And I’m willing to confess right now that my time perception has often been totally skewed.
Can I just say I have issues. But you probably already knew that about me if you’ve read many of my posts!
One funny thing I’ve discovered, thanks to my issues, is that we become more time constrained when we sit and struggle to get as many things done as possible.
Taking time away from all those tasks at hand can actually help you get a proper perspective of what you can let go of today.
I don’t know why it works like that, it just does. So push yourself away from your desk, your computer, or whatever it is you absolutely have to get done right now and leave.
You heard it right.
Leave. Leave the room. The building if you can. Go somewhere, anywhere.
Take a walk, go to the mall…just get yourself away from the environment that insists you get all those things on your list done…preferably right now.
You’ll discover a new time perspective. A freedom…that you’d forgotten about.
And you can thank my issues later when you see that what I say is true. 🙂 And you find yourself feeling happy even though you still have too much to do.
Be flexible
Self management is about knowing what to do at any given moment wrote David Allen in Getting things Done. I read his book a few times because getting things done wasn’t really something I was all that great at.
There are times when being flexible in our beliefs, flexible in what seems important, is vital to being happy when it feels as though we have too much to do.
We have to be willing to adapt to the circumstances of the moment.
What might have seemed like a top priority at the end of yesterday may no longer feel like the most crucial thing to do today.
Not that every unexpected thing that happens means you need to switch your schedule to manage it…just when that one thing arises that deep in your gut you know would be better off dealt with right away, be flexible enough to move things around.
But always keep in mind most things aren’t as important as they seem. So loosen up a little.
Beware of deadlines – even when you have too much to do
Deadlines often create dead ends.
How often have you underestimated the amount of time needed to get something done?
Take a look around and you’ll see this happening to all kinds of people in all kinds of areas.
People having to put in extra time at the last minute because of unrealistic, impractical deadline setting.
And this dear heart is totally demoralizing. Yes…I’ve been that person, so I know of what I speak!
I’m not saying that deadlines don’t have a place in life. Of course they do. I don’t want to miss that deadline for a flight to Scotland…should I get the chance to get back to the place of my birth.
And if you have a publishing deadline for that great novel for which you’ve received thousands of dollars up front…that might be a deadline you wouldn’t want to miss. Who wants to give all that money back? And congratulations by the way if this is you. 🙂
But generally our deadlines are arbitrary ones, just stories we’re telling ourselves that never lead to getting, let alone staying happy when we have far too much to do.
In the end we might always have too many things to do with not enough time to do them…and the best we can do, is to get full value out of the time we have.
Which really means getting full value out of life.
So don’t postpone living life to get all those ‘must do’ things done dear ones.
At the end of the day life is way too short and too precious to waste any of it stressed out and miserable by worrying about how much you have to do.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
xox
Latest posts by Elle Sommer (see all)
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