Life Hack: Lists What A To Do

As an overthinker I always feel like there is so much I want to do, so much I need to do and not enough time to do it all (in my day and life in general). Yes I am well aware I sound like another stereotypical millennial with FOMO. However we are living in the world of social media, FOMO is a guaranteed side effect; but I digress, that is another rant, for another day.

Lists. The answer to all your worries (ok maybe a little bit OTT but hear me out).

Having all these chores/deadlines floating around in your head can lead you to feeling overwhelmed and anxious. If you are like me, it can end up stressing you to the point of paralyzation i.e. since you can’t do everything you simply freeze up and do nothing. Or maybe you are part of the population (alien to moi) who can genuinely put on your CV that you “thrive under pressure”.

I think of all these floating tasks like ingredients. We are the novice chefs trying to recreate that Spaghetti bolognese we had in Italy that one time (purely hypothetical of course. The closest I have gotten to Italy and spag bol is El Casello.)

Anyway, you have an idea of what you need to do. You’ve got your tinned tomatoes, pasta, onion etc but do you dice or slice? When do you add the tomato puree? Are you forgetting a vital ingredient?

Basically, where do you start? You need a recipe, and what is a recipe? A carefully compiled list of instructions.

If done correctly A To Do list can be your own personalised recipe for a calm mind and a productive day. Below I have my guide for creating a useful To Do List. Hopefully it will help you as much as it has helped me.

A P P L Y   P A S T A 🍝

(really running with this Spag Bol theme…)

P rioritise– Order the list in terms of…

• What can’t wait? (or has the earliest deadline)

• What will make the biggest difference?

• What will be most productive long term?

A chievable – Unfortunately🙄 we are not Disney princesses. We can’t just sing a song and magically little birds will send off emails, whilst an army of mice do our cleaning. Disney lied…

• Roughly estimate how long each task will take and then fit them into your day.

• Being realistic is the key to a helpful list. (there is no point in making a list of 100 good intentions – overloading just adds to the stress.)

• I use 3 main tasks with a couple of self care reminders as a rough guide, speaking of which…

S elf care – This is just as important as any other task on your list.

“If you do not take time to focus on your health you will be forced to make time for your illness”

Self care = Long term productive

(allows us to operate at our peak level and gives us sanity)

• Include reminders of  “normal things” e.g. drink water . It may sound silly but it is these things vital to our health that we forget when consumed with work or stress.

• An early night, a home cooked dinner instead of microwave meal, a bubble bath, or simply going for a walk. These all count as being busy.

T icks – I mean who doesn’t get motivated by being able to tick a box? Or maybe that’s just me and my inner child…🙇‍♀️ 

• This also means I recommend HAND WRITING ✍

(yes like back in the day pen and paper, the horror!). If it’s on your phone you are more likely to procrastinate and waste time every time you go to look at it.

A Daily habit – (…ok…so I kind of cheated on the acronyms…) BUT Habits become lifestyles. Completing or working towards your goals and being able to organise your day etc, I’d say that’s going to help you sustain a healthier, happier lifestyle and hence mindset.  

• Write it before you go to bed, write it in bed for the next day. It will help clear your mind before you sleep and wake with a purpose.

• According to a recent study it takes on average 66 days to form a habit – so keep at it and soon you’ll be doing your Lists on autopilot.

Thank you for reading!😊 I hope this helps you as much as it helps me <3

Tasha and Mino x