Too much to do?

If you’re a To Do List hoarder and have a cluttered to do list, this episode is for you.

I’m sharing what it actually costs you and a simple easily implementable solution to save you from burnout and accelerate your success. It’s the ultimate Time Hack.

Enjoy this episode? Share it with someone you love, or go ahead and leave a review. I’d love to hear from you, tag me @feministtimecoach.

And if you are ready to stop wasting your time managing your time and instead optimize your time, then Time Hackers is for you.

Click here to find out more.

Transcript :

hello hello lovely people
wow this is my first time I actually
bought a standing desk and just from
habit haven't actually set it up to Stan
but today I'm setting it up to stand and
maybe you can notice if you are watching
this on video I do actually add my
videos to YouTube nowadays so if that's
your Vibe you can head over and watch it
there maybe you're already watching it
there anyway I'm standing up I'm
interested to hear from you you can DM
me on Instagram if you or comment
actually on the video that's another
option
or even leave a review on the podcast
um if you notice the difference because
I feel like more energy I do like to
move and often if you watch the videos
you'll see I move my hands lowers but
now I get to move my whole body
um hence the weird sing-song tone anyway
enough of that just me celebrating
um my new standing desk and actually
using it which is such a funny example I
have so much that we speak about on this
podcast which is like I wanted the
stand-up desk
I got the stand-up desk
and then I still sat down
um so often we want to produce or change
something and we completely discount our
brain part of our brain is never going
to want to change that thing
um and I like to use sometimes these
like silly funny examples that everyone
can relate to instead of like the
serious heavy ones around our work and
um because it just adds a lightness to
it it's easy to not judge it and we all
have these small examples we don't have
to make it mean anything about us except
that we have human brains that have
evolved
um to keep us safe
so anyway here I am from my standing
desk
Standing Tall and embracing the change
that I wanted to create
so that's just a little bit of me
Roofing at the beginning but we are here
to talk today about cluttered to-do
lists so if you are a to-do list hoarder
hello hello I see you I was you and the
to-do list hoarder is really
someone who keeps things on their to-do
list
for days weeks months years
um no shame no shade if this is you I am
I was the ultimate to-do list hoarder
close order planner hoarder or Journal
hoarder
um all the hoarding at Porter like the
ultimate order of all the things and
then I wondered
why I felt so
behind unsuccessful exhausted drained
it's like I want you to think about like
how much we carry when we hoard all the
things because we've been
sold this idea through technology that
we can actually hold a lot more and we
can hold a lot more thanks to technology
but mentally we are still holding all
those things there is still a cost just
because you can set reminders on your
phone doesn't mean that your brain
switches off completely on it so
today we're talking about clutter to-do
lists which is those to-do lists which
have way too much on and way too much to
do and recycle to-do list items from
days weeks months years ago and that we
are probably never going to get around
to just like our cluttered closets with
the clothes that are in there that we're
saving for one day but we've been saving
for that one day for like three years
so
um if you have a clutter to-do list this
episode is for you if you don't have a
closer to-do list but you're a to-do
list hoarder and that even counts if
there's one item on there that you are
like not willing to put down but not
getting done
this episode is for you and this episode
is for really all of us so feel free to
share this with anyone that you love I
just think it's going to be really
useful and the first thing I want to
talk about is actually what it costs us
to be a to-do list hoarder like what is
the expense of being a to-do list
hoarder
so the first thing that I like to think
of is
being that having that clutter to-do
list easily translates to I have too
much to do and whenever we tell our
brain
or whenever we hear the sentence too
much to do
part of our brain shuts down parts of
our brain goes into a media overwhelm
you may have heard me speak about this
before but like slot machine example
that if you put in
the phrase too much into a human slot
machine you will always generate
overwhelm you will always generate
stress too much is never a good thing
and immediately signals to our brain of
a potential danger and that potential
danger can lead us to going to fight
flight or freeze
um so that clutter to-do list is
creating overwhelm
and that of course impacts
you know the next thing that I'll speak
about which is our brain
um the spin in our brain and the ease of
Destruction so on the one hand there's a
destruction from the of the overwhelm of
the too much to do and on the other hand
there's the destruction of every single
thing on there like every single item on
that put a to-do list is a potential
destruction away from the item that you
are currently doing right if there's 10
things on that list and you are doing
number three
then you are also part of your brain is
thinking about number four five six and
this particularly shows up when you get
to that part of task number three that
you don't really want to do and your
brain's like oh let's look at something
else what else can we look at what else
can we do it's like that productivity
addiction that desire to tick things and
check things off
is is worsened by the idea that we don't
want to complete things if we don't
think we're good at them if we think
they're going to be hard if we think
we're going to fail and then we have all
the yummy destructions of all the
additional things on the to-do list that
we want to get done and you'll know that
you are experiencing this if you
find yourself obviously task hopping but
also repeatedly looking for our brain's
going to look for the things that we can
get done in three minutes or less it's
going to look for the things that we can
get done fast because it cares about the
tick being done over the quality or the
impact of the work being done
so the next thing and the visualization
I like to give my hackers is really this
idea that everything on that list is
like a mental load on your brain it's
like having a backpack full of rocks and
I want you to imagine walking through
your day with that backpack full of
every item of your to-do list being like
a heavy Rock like okay a medium heavy
Rock but all together it's super heavy
and that's what happens on our brain our
brain wakes up exhausted before we've
even done anything if you are
experiencing that it's probably because
there is too much to do on your to-do
list there are there's too much
expectation of all the things that you
want to get done in a day and it's
actually counterproductive because it
exhausts you it um drains you
and it does not inspire you into action
I promise you
the other thing is you know having a
closer to-do list
impacts your relationship with joy and
pleasure and fun and it does this
because it creates this relationship of
while the joy the fun the pleasure comes
after the to-do list like this earned
narrative that we've inherited and then
imagine having too much too much to do
having a super long cluttered to-do list
and living in a world in the narrative
where you've been taught and told that
that the to-do list the work has to be
done before you have the phone we never
have the fun if you feel like you are
not having enough fun in your life I
promise you it's the closer to-do list
as well as this narrative that
fun has to be earned those two really
work together to like ruin your life
basically to stop you having fun
um the next thing I want you to consider
with the Clutter to-do list is every
item on that to-do list is something
different to be managed something
different to be organized something
different to be started something else
to be
done like every item on that to-do list
has multiple decisions around it from
when will I do it how long will it take
to what software will I use to who are
the other people that I want to get
involved in this to like and not to
mention some of those things will also
require multiple attempts so failing
forward and obviously our brains don't
want to do that
so when you have a cluster to-do list
you are literally burning time and
wasting time it's one of the biggest
time ways just thinking that we can get
all the things done everything has to be
on a to-do list in front of us all at
once it's like every time you look at
that long to-do list there's so many
things that you could do that just
making the first decision of what to
start is going to be draining
um as well as like we kind of touched on
earlier with the destruction but only
does it steal your time away from the
item that you are doing or the goals
that you have but it steals your time
away from the present moment in and out
of work like like the big theme that's
come up here of this like overwhelmed
Creator there's too much to do this
drowning and they're like must complete
all the things before having fun the
reason why you are thinking about your
to-do list and your work and everything
that you want to get done outside of
doing it is because of this
fear and because of this narrative that
you are better and you are more valuable
when you do all these things so for each
and every time everything that you are
adding is stealing your attention away
from the present moment so for example
we actually just had this we went to the
health club this morning we recently
joined a health club and we played
tennis and I did this before I started
work I want you all to notice
um and on the way there kid said to me
what are you thinking about
and it was so funny how not present with
him I was so easily my brain was
thinking about
um something an investment I'm thinking
about
and it was just so funny to see like oh
like I want to be I want to
intentionally put that down that's the
certain information we're waiting for I
can't do anything about it that gets to
be put down that gets to not be thought
about until I receive that information
so this still impacts me I don't want
any of you to think like oh there's some
kind of perfect place that you will land
where
your attention is a hundred percent of
the time present in the moment listen
I'm a very present in the moment Through
Time hacking through my 15 hour week
through this work that I'm teaching you
guys it's drastically changed my life my
relationship My Success my business all
of the amazing things and I don't have
to be perfect 100 of the time
um the other thing that the other big
expense and this is one of the most
costly ones when it comes to having a
cluster to-do list is
it costs your creativity like your brain
is too tired managing the tasks on the
list and thinking about the tasks on the
list and thinking about which ones are
going to be done when and how long and
in what order and what are the
stakeholders are involved in all of that
stuff that it's like too tired to get
creative that is like one of the biggest
differences that changed in my life and
if you guys have been here a while you
would have literally seen it happen live
was when I worked last when I created my
15 hour week my creativity sword my
business sword my connection to my work
sword my idea generation sword like my
brain is a creativity machine not
because I was born that way I definitely
wasn't
um but because I give it plenty of space
because I don't overload it with things
to think about or items to be done or
checklists and so on
so a cluster to-do list is going to cost
you your creativity I experienced it
firsthand myself and as I said if you
guys have been around listening to this
podcast for a while you probably saw it
change in me
um from the sideline so that's really
cool and if you haven't and you are
fairly new to the podcast go back and
listen I mean firstly all the episodes
are valuable that's something very
important to me in producing this
obviously I value your time and I
respect and love that you are investing
this time to listen to this podcast or
watch this video
but also
um
you will also notice like a shift in how
I was and how I am now so it's fun to
see that I think that's why I keep old
episodes up there for now
um
and the last thing I wanted to speak
about and this was a big one that used
to affect me it's a huge one that my
clients come to me with and it's so
amazing to see them create change in
this because it's so valuable
it steals your sleep it steals your rest
right it's like you go down and rest
isn't always sleep so we spoke about
presence
um
like in our day-to-day lives but this
point I really want to drive home is
around sleep and the idea of like lying
in bed tossing turning thinking about
the things that you want to get done
thinking about the things that you said
you would get done that you've not got
done thinking about the things that you
have online for tomorrow or next week
and how you're going to do it all and
knowing that the math does not add up
knowing the availability you have is not
going to mean you get 25 things done
tomorrow and carrying that and that of
course impacts your quality of sleep so
one of the things the main point to get
across here I'm really trying to help
you guys see is
that cluster to-do list with all the
things feels like it's helping it feels
useful right there's no idea that I mean
I used to do this I used to on a Monday
morning get everything on my to-do list
from my brain onto a piece of paper from
this idea that if it wasn't in my brain
I was like releasing the load and it's
not true I mean and then I used to try
and put it into a calendar and all of
that stuff but it's not true when you
look at a piece of paper with like 20 30
40 50 items on it for the week like all
the detail there it is an overwhelm
Creator it's a creativity killer it's a
distraction generator it's all of the
things that we've just spoken about
so instead we want to be thinking more
about doing less by decluttering that
list and I wanted to offer you something
very simple to do this because sometimes
I know you guys I know my people you are
smart ambitious you want to take what
I'm teaching and apply it and implement
it but you also have brains like my
brain which wants to do all at once and
so like okay I'm gonna get rid of
everything and just pick one thing every
day that's great but I would actually
start with the reverse
and I would eliminate one item of your
to-do list every day this week like one
thing like whatever however you work
if you like you know think about your
day today and you're looking at what
you're gonna do
delete one thing delete one thing even
when there's resistance even when
there's drama I mean the truth is most
of us aren't getting all the things we
want to in a day done so you either end
the day feeling dissatisfied and
frustrated and behind because you didn't
get it done or you decide ahead of time
not to get it done and special shout out
to those of you that delete the thing
that's been on there for more than two
weeks here's my here's my view on that
if you've got things on there for longer
than two weeks they can't be that
important we don't forget to feed our
kids I I always think about this no
matter how much we have going on there
are certain things that get done no
matter what those are the important
things required for survival now part of
our brain thinks everything is urgent
and everything is required for survival
because it's just not caught up with
like our modern day worlds and Monday
Comfort
um for example it may be one of those
things is like to do a food job and then
to make dinner but actually nowadays you
can't order food if you need to if like
if you literally don't have time there's
this app and in three minutes you can
order food and it will be delivered to
you without you needing to do anything
now I'm not saying you want to do that
all the time it's just like a very
obvious example of like I have to I must
do this versus I actually don't have to
and I mustn't whatever the language is
there so I just wanted to share this
with you my to-do list orders including
past Vicky that if you feel like your
to-do list needs a to-do list
just now
that what's available what everything
you want to achieve you actually get
closer to it
by deleting items off that to-do list I
know it sounds counterproductive I know
it sounds counter-intuitive my clients I
mean there's nothing more that I love
than when they're like oh my God you are
right it worked
um I actually am achieving more and I'm
doing less that's the name of the game
we are so over cluttered and so busy in
this world that the answer is actually
doing this so like I said just pick one
thing every day to not do
and I mean share it with me if you're on
social media on Instagram or you're on
YouTube now comment below and let me
know the first thing that you're going
to delete of your to-do list I will
celebrate you you will celebrate you
let's create change today all right
thank you so much for listening and
actually I will add if you do love this
um podcast I've not asked for a while I
did mention at the beginning I would
love to get a review from you
um if you write the review on I think
it's like iTunes has it um then I would
really appreciate it you can even
screenshot it and send it me on
Instagram at feminist time coach I
appreciate you and if you don't want to
leave a review for whatever reason you
do want to share it with one person you
love that's also really fun
okay thank you so much for listening
I'll speak to you soon bye