It’s Time to Get Really Honest About Your Responsibilities
If you’re like most non-lazy human beings, your to-do list is miles long. *sad face* It’s such a bummer too because you really aren’t the crazy headless chicken you are acting like, you’re just overwhelmed. It’s time to get really honest with yourself. I mean really honest.
There are things on your list that don’t need to be there. I know, I know, you meticulously listed every single thing that needed to be done, hence its spot on the list. And if you did something that wasn’t on the list, you wrote it down just so you could check it off. I know the drill.
But here’s the thing. If you are as overwhelmed as I have been at times, then you absolutely have things that do not need to be on that list. While there are other techniques to managing yourself around time that don’t include elimination, sometimes you just need to double check that everything you are doing is in line with your one true path.
It’s list scrubbing time!
Manage Your Overwhelming Tasks Honestly With The 4 Ds
There are a few steps in this process, but it won’t take very long, unless you resist being honest with yourself… In fact, to help with that, I’m going to add an extra step in the beginning to put you in the right frame of mind. Grab some paper and a pen and here we go:
- Vision: Write down what your ideal work day looks like. If most of your work days looked like this, you would have a fulfilling place in business and life. This will help you get clear on what really matters to you.
- Mind Dump: Make a list of all of your general responsibilities and frequent tasks. (Plus getting them out of your head helps you think more clearly!)
- Prioritize: Reorder that list according to importance and separate into three categories—high, medium, and low importance.
- 4 Ds: Finally, assign each task or general responsibility one of 4 Ds: Do, Delay, Delegate, Delete
Learning to delete and delegate may be the two most important things you can learn from enforcing the 4D rule!
You may think you don’t have anyone to delegate to right now, but if you are solution-oriented, you will soon begin to see opportunities to delegate in a new light. Here are some examples to get your mind thinking differently:
- Pay the neighbor kid $5 to come fold your laundry
- Hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) part time just to start handing a few things off a month
- Hire an errand runner to go get your dry cleaning and light bulbs
It’s time to take your life back and get control of your tasks! And another thing—you do not have to finish everything on that list! There will always be more. Revel in what was accomplished when it’s time to stop and do something else for a bit.
For a fantastic self-management around time two-week up-level course, join my Busy Girl Bootcamp starting Monday, June 30! (And, yes, guys can join too!) It’s a purely digital course, so if you join after June 30, you will still start with “Day 1.”