Stop the Growth of Your To-do List

By Donna Stark

I wish I had the capability to hit the pause button on my to-do list. Every time I feel like I am making progress with it, I take a look and out of nowhere, there seems to be more items added to the bottom, with no clear end in sight. It’s as if someone is feeding it a hearty meal while I am sleeping because it has grown overnight and seems to have more energy than I do in the wee hours of the morning. It has a life of its own and honestly, I wish it was my bank account that was being fed that hearty meal instead of my to-do list.

All joking aside though, it is easy to become overwhelmed with the daily task list that is screaming at you to get things done. This list adds weight to your shoulders and stress to your days, but there are ways to take back control.

Managing Your To-Do List

Fortunately, you can stop the growth of your to-do list with a little bit of practice and a lot of strategy. Here are some suggestions on how to manage your list and take back some of the power.

• Sort and prioritize - What needs to be accomplished this minute? Tomorrow? Next week? What can wait? Break your to-do list into shorter lists for a clearer picture of what’s important. Pick out the things that most definitely need to be done today and prioritize the rest after that. Use a black and white frame-of-mind and clear out all of the gray matter. Not everything needs to be on today’s priority sheet.
• Schedule out and delegate - Once you sort and prioritize, you will have a clearer picture of what you can push out to other days. Spread the work out over the week and if you can, delegate some tasks to family members or coworkers.
• Eliminate - This may be as simple as not replying to some messages that truly don’t need a response or saying no to requests for help. I have a friend who feels obligated to answer every customer survey sent to him (although his intentions are good, this is a perfect example of what I am talking about). Eliminate those things that are stressing you out and bringing little value to your day. You may even have to start becoming more comfortable with saying no to others. If you are feeling overwhelmed, saying yes to baking 80 themed cupcakes for your child’s class the next day might not be in your best interest.

Stop the Feeding

These are just a few suggestions to get you started on how to downsize your to-do list. Hopefully, once you stop feeding it, the list will shorten, the weight will be lifted from your shoulders, and you will be able to breathe freely once again.

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Renton, Wash.