Just this past weekend we "fell back" with the time change gaining an hour. Unless you are a parent then the kids didn't get the memo and you were up even earlier than normal - I'm so sorry!
Ând I don't know if it's because it's Fall but everything has felt really RUSHED. Anyone else?
There's just a lot more to do. It's starting to get colder - so any warm days we are outside. We are driving from activity to activity to appointment to everyday errands that haven't stopped - and all during the pandemic.
I've watched my thoughts pop up and say "There's just not enough time!" "There's too much to do!" "I'm busy and I don't even know where the time goes!"
And at the same time, I'll find myself binging Ted Laso or Canada/Britain's Drag Race or Great Canadian Bake off! It's Fall season so all of my favourite shows are back!
So here lies the problem. I have too much to do but I also want to enjoy my binging time. Is there a way?
Well friends I'm happy to tell you that there is a way! When we use our magic power of mindfulness we can make time for it all! Keep reading to find my 3 mindful hacks for the to-do list + a cheeky little bonus one I use when I'm the busiest read: when I'm the most anxious!
Time Blocking
Picture a regular school schedule. Different time blocks for different subjects, time blocking is the same idea.
I knew multi-tasking was not as helpful when I was trying to get it all done. I was spending more time getting my brain to shift focus from 1 thing to the next that I never got the satisfaction of completing a task ✅
Time Blocking for me now looks like matching my energy levels with the blocks of time I have for the day. If I have a lot of meetings I know I'm going to need some creative time to balance myself out. So I will put aside a chunk of time in my calendar to focus on 1 thing.
In my business, this 1 thing could be my website because I feel like this task will alllllways be on the list!
Most recently I used a block of time on my weekend to create all of my email sequences. It felt so good to cross that off of my list. And to also know that I had this block of time upcoming in my calendar I was able to jot down ideas when they came to me and then use my block of time to sort through it all, draft it out and then put it into working order.
speaking of emails - Have you gotten your feelings tracker yet? Grab it here
Task Batch
The second mindful tool that helps me with all the to-do's is to consider task batching. This is when I'll look at the list of the things today and I'll start grouping like items.
This could be any task that fit into a "category" I like to consider batches into these segments based on the work that I do: writing, videos, editing, recording, planning, reading.
Just like time blocking this helps me keep my energy up for the same type of activity for a longer period of time.
Knowing that motivation doesn't just come to me, I am able to use task batching to up my momentum and build the motivation to keep going.
Tasks that have standing task batch moments in my calendar include planning my social media captions, writing blog posts, writing scripts for upcoming lives and speaking engagements. The task being batched - writing.
I'm able to stay in the mindset of helping my clients through my words and experiences. And then I can also keep things consistent because the "writing" can be broken up into all of these different places but using more than 1 avenue to get it out there.
Find a friend
In this day and age of WFH (working from home) how many of us are working in our isolated environments? I used to love going to coffee shops/patios to work so that I could just be in the same space as other people. I found it motivating AF - even when we weren't working on the same thing. Shit, even when people didn't know they were helping me be accountable to getting things done just being with other people can help me cross more off of my to-do list.
Is there a co-work place/space you could sign up for?
Do you have a community of people you could propose this idea to
These are my top 3 mindful hacks to get more 'ish done. And I have 1 sneaky bonus that I promised you.
Sometimes when the list gets overwhelming I'll toss the thing out. Instead of the list I'll think of Just One Thing and write that down. Then I'll do just that 1 thing. Then it gets crossed off, and I'll write just one thing more. And keep it going.
This feels great at the end of the day to just see a list of only things that are crossed off.
Let me know which one of these hacks you're going to try - or which one you make space for in the comments below.
Don't forget to get your Feelings tracker! It comes with over 50 feeling words to expand your emotional vocab + everything that is available to you. Grab it here
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