New Answer to Weed Your To-Do List
Extraordinary Woman Dilemma:
It's Monday morning and you're looking at your list of things to do and the time available this week. It doesn't add up! There's no way it's all going to get done by Friday, but there's some inspired yet slightly delusional part of you (gotta love her) that has never-ending hope and puts it all on the schedule anyway. You've done this dance enough times to know there's a 98% chance this will lead to frustration, but maybe...this time...will be different (sheepish grin)...What There Is For You To Know:
When there's too much to do and not enough time, there are always some little buggers on that list to-do list that don't really belong there. Yet as spirited, go-getting women, we're fiercely committed to our choices and to the integrity of following through with them. This is excellent for the quality and consistency that you bring to your business, and it can be a sticking point for the sanity of your schedule. Because, bottom-line, some commitments or ideas don't always merit following through.Dead-heading For To-Do List Freedom:
In my porch garden this summer, I have a pot of purple, yellow and pink pansies that I just adore. Way back in my twenties, I used to think that the term "dead-heading" referred solely to the act of following the Grateful Dead around and trying to be a cool hippie. But now that I've entered the world of gardening in my late thirties, I've learned that dead-heading also describes the art of pinching back the stems of the flowers that have withered. By pinching back the stems, I'm sending the plant a message that it can stop sending energy to the withered flower and instead re-focus on the stems that have blooms going like gangbusters or new buds waiting to explode.I've also noticed that sometimes the pansy sends out a stem with a bloom that starts to unfold, but then doesn't quite make it and withers away. I always have a hard time dead-heading that kind of bloom because there's a part of me that is thinking I should keep it around in case I'm wrong about it being done. Meanwhile, the plant is sending energy to a dead end and it takes away from the other blooms in the process.
Here's a quick way to dead-head your schedule, just like a pot of pansies...
Try It On The Fly:
Take a minute to envision your to-do list as a pot of pansies. Notice which items on your list feel alive like full-bloom flowers or flowers on the way to blooming. Now notice which items bloomed then withered or tried to bloom but never got there and now they're just on your list out of habit or "should" or because you like the idea of them or because you'd feel bad about not following through. When you've identified the withered blooms, see which of them you are willing to dead-head with the knowing that the energy will re-direct and feed only the items that are alive and kicking. AND your to-do list will be "trimmer" now as a result!Dead-heading isn't the end-all-be-all answer to fixing everything about your overburdened schedule, but it is definitely a tool that you can keep handy to contribute to the trimming. Sometimes it's hard to let go of things that you know, deep down, are done. Looking at it from the "pot of pansies" perspective is one of many ways to flex your Inner Knowing muscle to help you see, on a deeper level, what fits on your list and what doesn't.