As entrepreneurs, we’re constantly pulled in all sorts of directions and our to-do list is typically a mile long - ok, ok, fine - maybe 2-3 miles long. This person needs that, that person needs this, I have to accomplish items 1-10 by the end of the day, and my email is blowing up. Sound familiar?
In order to help me stay organized with my gigantic list of things to do, I have a notepad on my desk that says, "To Do, or Not To Do" and folks, I hate to admit it, but more often than not the things on my list for the week fall into the "Not To Do" category (which gets pushed to the next week, and the next, and it drives me batty. I thought I had calculated plenty of time to accomplish the whole list! I must have made a mistake somewhere, right? But the reality is, there’s just too much on my plate - much like any entrepreneur faces on a weekly basis. Then, I came across this quote and something hit home for me, so I thought I’d share it with you. Writer Jenée Desmond-Harris on how to divide your to-do list: "I started dividing my to-do list into
1. things I have to do
2. things I want to do
3. things other people want me to do
Life changing! I often don’t get to 3 and I finally realized... this is what it means to have boundaries." What a way to divide the never-ending to-do list. I scrambled over to my own list and tried dividing all my tasks in the same way. You know what I discovered? I was putting off a few items from 1 and almost all items from 2 in order to appease the items on 3 What?!?!?! No wonder I’m stressed and overwhelmed. I’m hustling to get things done for other people, leaving little to no time to accomplish the things I need and want to accomplish. Realizing that made me feel like my boundaries in my work are practically nonexistent. So, guess what’s going to change? Yup - How I structure my to-do list. Just because I’m going to be focusing more on 1 and 2 doesn’t mean I don’t want to help others - I absolutely do! And helping others is kinda the whole mission of Daytime Hero. But in order to best help others where it really matters, I have to set some things as priority for myself. here's to setting boundaries and being productive!