How to Structure Your To-Do List
Whether it’s paper or digital, there are a few principles I recommend to structure your to-do's so your list becomes approachable. The great unlock is to remember that a to-do is not connected to a when rarely gets done. Each to-do has to get assigned a day or a time. Otherwise, you're just hoping to do it when you remember it or when you have a free moment (which doesn’t ever seem to happen). Instead, with just a few actionable tips, your to-do list can transform into a realistic game plan to get your most important tasks done.
Finding the Time to Exercise
How do you fit the time in to exercise in the midst of your busy work and home lives? Once you are out of the habit, I know it’s hard to get the motor turned back on and start exercising regularly. Many people think exercise means 60-90 minutes three times a week, at the gym or in a class. And it can be difficult to break out of that notion; it’s how most of us used to exercise. You may have adopted an all or nothing mentality: you know it’s impossible to exercise as much as you once did, so you stop altogether.
How to Tame Interruptions (that Derail your Best Laid Plans)
We shouldn’t blindly agree to random requests that will take us away from higher priorities, or are outside our designated lane or expertise (and therefore the most inefficient thing for us to spend time on). In reality, we often want to say no but say yes because we are caught off guard. We get tripped up in an effort to be good team players. There is a way to manage unexpected requests with grace and logic, while also being a great team member.
How to Structure an Unstructured Week
It’s not just retirement that can put us in this situation. Sudden job loss, illness, or choosing to stay home to raise kids all remove the external structure generated by our work lives. As much as we may sometimes feel slaves to our work schedules, the structure is also powerful and grounding, as an organizing principle for our lives. So, how do you organize your days to be meaningful and fulfilling when you are not tied to an outside schedule?
Organizing Yourself To Eat Healthy
You can fortify your willpower with some very practical actions that make it easier to stay on track. Instead of just asking, ‘How do I maintain my discipline to eat healthy’, the question you can ask is, “How do I organize my time and space to encourage eating in a healthy way?” That slight shift in approach can set you up for success, giving you the scaffolding and support you need to follow through on your goals.
Define Your Daily Interruption Ratio
Instead of giving up on planning altogether, the key is to recognize that not one hundred percent of your day is in your control. The solution is to factor in what I call your Daily Interruption Ratio- what percentage of your day needs to be left open for the inevitable interruptions that really do need to be handled the same day. By factoring in the reality, you can plan your days realistically and avoid having your best laid plans derailed.
How to Reset Healthy Habits
What gets in the way? I think it’s that we remember the days when we exercised (or ate well) regularly, and nothing could keep us from staying on plan. The rewards were so powerful and immediate, our motivation was unshakeable at that time. And now, we are waiting for that same feeling to come back to motivate us to go out the door. But when the engine has been cold for a while, it’s hard to summon that feeling.
BACK TO BASICS: The Kindergarten Model of Organizing
Organizing is about identifying what is important to you and arranging it in a logical way that gives you access to what you use and love so that you can live the life you choose.
Once you determine that your goal is to create a system that works for you, success begins with picturing your space when it’s done. How? Think Kindergarten.
