These days, I thankfully have more time than I usually know what to do with. However, there was a time in the not-so-distant past when my to-do list was taller than my husband (and he’s pretty tall!). With all that I had going on, I had to figure out how to get it all done. Even though the saying is, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person”, there’s a threshold for busy people:
My Productivity Chart
As the chart shows, there’s a sweet spot where you can add things to your to-do list and become more productive. After that, you get maxed out and eventually you have to let things go.
I could tell you all about everything I had going on in my life, but chances are that you’re busy too and don’t have time to read all about my crazy life. If you’re like me, you are probably letting your brain recover by looking at Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media. If you’re also like me, you’re seeing so many things you want to try – whether that’s recipes or crafts or organizing (yes, I like to organize). Chances are, you want to try everything that you see. And even more, chances are that you probably need to take a quick 5 or 15-minute self-care break by trying something you saw online. But most of all, you probably definitely don’t have time to try the bigger projects or do more than 1 a month.
When you’re overwhelmed with life yet want to try even more things, create a to-do-later list. This can be a list in a notebook that you write down, a list on your phone, a document on your computer, or a document in the cloud. Regardless of where you have it, the to-do-later list is a collection of all the things you want to do when you have a moment to do more than just take a breath (or take a nap). When I was in the thick of my graduate degree and studying, this list was pretty long (and eventually turned into my 101 Goals in 1001 Days list). It also kept me focused on what I needed to do in the moment.
Now, you could say that your Pinterest boards or saving Facebook posts would work as a to-do-later list. However, it would be more cohesive to have everything listed in one place. By creating a single list, everything is together and you can see all your exciting future projects at once. And, you get the fun of compiling it all together without worrying that you’ll forget any fun projects or recipes.
Any Little Way 