How to Eliminate Some of Your To-dos from Your To-do List.

Are you overwhelmed with too many to-dos? Are you never ticking anything off you list? Are you not achieving your goals?

The good news.

I have a way to say goodbye to some of your to-dos forever.

Here’s how.

Take the time now to stop and reflect on your values and goals. Think about what you want to achieve with your life and the type of person you want to be? Things you might ask yourself are:

1. What are your health and financial goals?
2. What are your interests?
3. What type of friend, partner or family member do you want to be?
4. What are your business, career or work goals?
5. What type of environment do you want to live in?

If you struggled to answer these questions, a psychologist or coach might help.

Now that you have this more precise picture of your values and goals, take a look at your to-do list. Are their things on your list that don’t align with your values or move you closer to your goals? Is your list cluttered with items you no longer have an interest in doing anymore? If the answer is yes, then consider removing them from your list as they are most likely stopping you from achieving the things you value.

This was something I did recently.

In the middle of the year, I worked with a business coach, and we worked on establishing a business plan. We dug deep to determine the type of business I wanted to be running. Through the process, I started to set my business goals and added them to ASANA (a project management tool). A few months after working on my new goals, I could see that there were some tasks and goals that no longer aligned with my business direction that I had established with my business coach.

Why were these goals and tasks in ASANA? And more importantly, why was I spending time on them?

The answer.

Because I had set these goals in the past, and I felt committed to doing them. As soon as I answered this question, a light bulb went off in my head. I realised that just because I committed to these goals in the past, it didn’t mean I need to commit to them now. I’ve changed, my business has changed, we are not the same person/entity we were 12 months ago. These goals had now become redundant and weren’t helping me to achieve my business vision.

But the biggest problem.

These redundant goals were becoming a distraction stopping me from focusing on the goals that would take me closer to achieving my business vision. With this realisation, I happily deleted these redundant tasks/goals from ASANA. And now I only focus on doing tasks that help me achieve my goals as set out with my business coach.

The best part!

I now feel more in control of my time.

A new year is approaching, and I encourage you to take the time to reflect on the things you have achieved in 2019 and be proud of it. Look at the things you haven’t accomplished and ask yourself, are these goals still important? If the answer is no, remove them from the list. If the answer is yes, keep these goals on your list but avoid dwelling on why you haven’t achieved these goals. Instead, reflect on what stopped you from completing these goals and start to plan what you can do to start reaching them. It may mean you need some time management and scheduling support. (Note I will be sharing time management tips in future blogs in 2020.)

Now here is the good news!

You are now closer to achieving the things you want because you have just eliminated the stuff you don’t want.

The practice of reviewing my goals is something I now do every three months to ensure I am working on things that take my life and my business forward. And without hesitation, I will terminate any tasks that don’t move me closer to achieving my life and business goals.

The critical thing to remember is items on your to-do list that don’t add value to your life are distractions, taking you away from the things that matter. If there are goals you want to achieve, but you are struggling to accomplish them, then it might be time to start working on improving your time management and scheduling skills. If you need support in managing your to-do list and schedule I would love to hear from you, you can send me an email at joey@creatingpositivespaces.com.au or call me on 0401 149 185.

Time is limited, and we must focus our attention on what we want to achieve.

Cover photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

Watch Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash