9 strategies to manage an overwhelming to-do list
Managing a to-do list is important for productivity and efficiency in our lives. Being strategic about how our lists are managed can be the difference between checking boxes off your list quickly and never checking them off at all.
1. Practice self-compassion and self-awareness
The Process Communication Model (PCM), often used to describe depth of our personality, specifies that perfectionism is an indicator of distress. Moreover, perfectionism is used as a way to feel safe and avoid confronting unwelcomed feelings, situations, or tasks. Oftentimes we can be the biggest obstacles in our own productivity such that it can hinder us from even getting started. Make a conscious choice to be self-aware of how you speak to yourself. Simply put, perfectionism can be the enemy of success.
2. Learn to prioritise
While learning to prioritise is arguably the most important strategy on this list, it can also be a challenging skill to develop. Former U.S. president, Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, “I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Later, Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, coined the “Eisenhower Principle”, a prioritisation strategy used to organise work by urgency and importance. With this tool, you can split your tasks into four separate sections:
- To be completed urgently
- To be scheduled (and completed at a later date)
- To be delegated
- To delete
This is one of the many prioritisation tools out there that can help you reach your efficiency goals. By clearly mapping out your list, you can easily gauge what is most urgent and what can wait.
3. Learn to say no, or not right now
In reference to strategy #2, if something on your to-do list falls into the “to be delegated” or “to delete” bucket, this will likely require you to be communicative with others about your workload. Compassionate communication is the best way to share with your team what you are and aren’t able to manage. If certain projects fall out of your “important” and “urgent” buckets, sharing with your team creates an open line of communication for everyone to reassess goals and objectives. Transparency plays a key role in being an advocate for yourself as you want to be honest about where your focus is while also being realistic with expectations of others. Compassionate Communication is a skill which teaches us to speak our truth is a safe way by taking out the emotional charge of a message. How someone choose to interpret it is up to them, but what we can do is take out the major triggering things to avoid a defensive reaction when we share something which is difficult to communicate.
4. Log every time you freeze in front of your list
If you’re often paralyzed by the sight of your to-do list, this is a sign of overwhelm and anxiety. Try jotting down dates, times, and locations of when you find yourself freezing. This could help you to uncover certain triggers. Perhaps Monday mornings are difficult for you, as you anticipate the many meetings you have to attend that day. By remaining aware, you can find compassion for yourself and create workaround strategies.
5. Break tasks into smaller chunks
Large tasks can feel daunting and impossible to begin. However, breaking projects into bite-sized pieces can help create a clearer roadmap for what needs to be done to accomplish a goal or project. It can also help to prioritise the smaller tasks by importance and urgency (as stated in strategy #2) and note due dates to hold yourself accountable.
6. Utilise time-blocking techniques
To help focus and minimise distractions throughout your day, consider time-blocking tasks. Whether the need is to respond to emails or research new market trends, try adding designated space in your calendar to accomplish goals and responsibilities. This also helps if you’re a person who is stimulated by visuals and enjoys seeing their day clearly mapped out.
If you do try this technique, try your best to use the time allocated to accomplish the things you set out to. This can also be a great way to look back and see where most of your time is spent and gut check your productivity.
7. Do something outside of your to-do list
Sometimes the best way to tackle your to-do list is to not tackle it at all! Referring back to strategy #6, I recommend adding a time-block for breaks. These breaks can be spent doing anything from laundry, to taking a walk, or simply resting. By creating space in your day, you can ensure you will not get overwhelmed.
8. Limit multi-tasking
Multitasking can be a hard-to-kick habit. However, as humans, we are not wired to multi-task. According to an article by Psychology Today, multi-tasking is a fallacy. PT reported, “research has repeatedly and consistently found that multitasking is not feasible with human cognitive functioning. To take this one step further, in one study, only 2.4 percent of participants were found to be able to multitask effectively . And most fascinating, Sanbonmatsu et al. reported that people who think they are good at multitasking are actually not good at it!”
While tempting especially when we are overwhelmed by what needs to be done, it’s best to avoid multitasking. Try focusing on one task at a time, completing it, and moving on to the next.
9. Create a list of completed tasks
While much of your focus is on things that are left to be done, don’t forget to celebrate your accomplishments. Creating a list of completed projects can be a source of motivation. This list can also help you keep track of your big-picture goals and make sure you’re aligned with your quarterly and yearly goals.
Final Thoughts
As we know, to-do lists are critical to our productivity. Utilising new prioritisation habits such as time-blocking and the Eisenhower strategy can help improve our work performance and efficiency. We can also benefit from communicating with our teammates what we don’t have the time or bandwidth to accomplish. And don’t forget to be kind to yourself and celebrate your wins! This is how you will want to do more of this!
Interested in learning more tools to enhance your productivity?
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