Frozen in July?

Are you overwhelmed with your massive “To do” list and find yourself frozen or paralyzed? Do you find yourself unable to take action as each task seems to take more time than you have, everything looks like a priority and you don’t know where to begin?

For those of us who have full and busy lives, we can become bogged down with the demands of family life, personal responsibilities and business execution. If you have kids, they are out of school, perhaps attend camp for part of the day but need to be taken to various sports activities and play dates.  Friends and family want to visit or have you over so schedules get taxed as you fit in more evening and weekend events. The weather may be just right for increased physical activity but when do you fit it in?

 If you run a business, you must continue to nurture it and help it grow. If you work for a company, you may be asked to take on increased responsibilities as vacation days hit for other employees. It all adds up to added stress, feeling out of control and overwhelmed. So what can you do?

 Set Your Intention

Take a few minutes and breathe. Stop everything and take out a pad of paper. Write down what is really important to you. What is a priority and must get done each and every day? What are your highest payoff activities? What is your high energy time?

 Create a plan

There are many studies which have shown the benefit of pre-planning, writing a list and organizing it in to priorities. I was trained in the Franklin Covey method years ago and still employ it.

 Write down everything you need to do. If there are several items within one category, you can create a sub-title such as Family Life and under that list everything which has to be done around your family from doctor’s appointments to grocery shopping and meals, lawn care, etc. Place a letter indicting the level of priority, A,B or C.  Then number the items A1, A2, B1, B2, etc.

 Now take a few minutes to time block. Layout which activities must be done at certain hours of the day and how much time you need to allocate to each.  If you can plan out which activities get done at what time of day, you will be less stressed as you won’t feel guilty as your realize you are about to miss a conference call as you have to fit in dropping the car off to be serviced. You can drop the car off the evening before or drop it off on your way to the train and ask a neighbor to give you a lift if you have planned ahead.

 I find everything takes longer than I think it will but by planning ahead you can group activities and find a few extra minutes. For example, if you plan out your meals for the week, you can then make a grocery list for the entire week. If you are dropping kids off for swim club, camp or a play date, you can scoot by the grocery store on your way home. Pre-planning can help reduce the number of trips to the market and provide windows of time.

Start the day with “me time”

All too often we let our own needs fall behind the daily demands of work and family. If you are a morning person, you can start the day 30-60 minutes before the crew awakens and meditate for a few minutes to de-stress, set your intentions and find a little peace. If you can, fitting in some exercise before the day gets going will leave you feeling like you have accomplished something, given yourself a gift, energized yourself and be in a good mindset to begin the day.

 Tackle the Priorities

Start with the A’s not the C’s. The A’s are often tougher as they generally take more time and effort and we may also be afraid of failing so we procrastinate on important tasks. Tackling the A’s first may take longer and be more involved but they have the biggest payoffs.

 Move the B’s and C’s to the following day if they are not completed. The B’s may become A’s on one of the future days but you may find the C’s are not critical and may drop off your list.

 The D’s – Delegate, Delay or Delete

Are you doing too much yourself? Are you afraid to delegate? Is it easier and faster to do it yourself than to try to explain how to do something?

 Finding ways to delegate is the fastest way to accomplish more of the A’s in your life. Take the B’s or the C’s and hand it to someone else whether it is an assistant, the kids, your spouse, a hired hand, etc. If you need to earn more to afford more help, then set that as a goal. You will be much more productive if you can focus on what is important and things only you can do and delegate the routine or mundane items whenever possible.

 If you can delay items, you will again find more time to concentrate on those priorities, highest payoff activities which also provide a sense of accomplishment. By listing items and delaying the non-priorities you can then knock off a few of these if you find yourself with some unexpected downtime.

 And finally, if you keep moving those C’s, you may find they are just not that important and can be deleted from your lists.

 Be thankful for all the blessings in your life. Take time for yourself each and every day and focus on the highest payoff activities. Organizing yourself this way will lead to accomplishing much more than you thought possible, feel less stressed and be able to take stock at any time.