Happiness

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Dig Yourself Out! How to Manage a Too Long, To-Do List.

I have had that feeling lately. My lungs feel tight. It feels as though a great weight has been placed on my chest.  I feel underground, as though mounds of dirt are obscuring my normally optimistic, blue-sky outlook. I feel as though I am trying to dig my way back up to clear, unpolluted air again. My muscles feel tired as I push forward to a new task all the while my unyielding brain reminds me of the mountain of tasks waiting to be completed next.

Has this ever happened to you? Despite your best efforts, have you suddenly found yourself buried under the weight of incomplete tasks? When we become aware that we are buried under a list of too many things to do, it is critical to our well being and self-confidence that we dig ourselves out.

Here are five simple, tried and true steps to quickly restore balance to your task list and your life:

Step One: Breathe.

The difference between anxiety and excitement is often our breath.  Breathing brings oxygen, our life force, back in our bodies to calm our nervous system and create the energy we need to get work done.

Step Two: Write down ALL of your incomplete tasks.

While seeing everything you have yet to complete on one sheet of paper can be incredibly overwhelming, it gets all of this information out of your mind. When we don’t have an organized list of what we need to do, our mind is often distracted from the task at hand by thoughts of other things we need to do. Writing it all down frees up your mental space to actually get work done, rather than your mind racing from anxious thought to anxious thought.

Step Three: Choose what you will do, what you will delegate and what you will erase.

You either have to do the task, ask someone else to do it or choose not to do it. There are no other alternatives. When we perpetually push tasks forward on our calendar without completing them, our mental energy stays tied to the incomplete task. Completing, delegating or erasing the task allows you to feel a sense of completion, which creates mental energy.

Step Four: Be present with each task you choose to complete.

When you complete a task, be fully present with it.  Focus your mind and your senses on the work in front of you. Don’t allow interruptions to derail you. Research clearly shows that our minds are not as effective with multi-tasking as we think they are. Mono-tasking with presence will allow you to move through your to-do list quickly and efficiently.

Step Five: Each time you complete a task, take a deep breath, exhale and say, “peace restored.”

Celebration is a great way to build momentum. As we breathe and celebrate the completion of a task, we are acknowledging the positive steps we are taking. Although it may take a while to achieve the end result of a manageable to-do list, celebrating each complete item gives us a momentary feeling of peace and the encouragement to keep going.

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Your Happiness Hinges On Answering These Two Questions

How much money do you need to feel successful?  How much money will you give to make a difference?

So often in leadership and life we use financial measures to define success. Most people agree that billionaire Bill Gates has led a successful life revolutionizing the computer world. Equally, most people agree that Mother Theresa led a successful life by taking a vow of poverty and devoting herself to serving the poorest of the poor.

But what if you don’t aspire to be Bill Gates rich?  What if you don’t aspire to be Mother Theresa poor?  How do you decide what balance of making money and giving to the world is right for you? Unless you are either the poorest or the richest person in the world, there will always be someone who has more than you and someone who has less than you.

When we look up the ladder at those who have more financial success than us, we can feel jealous and envious of their outward showings of success.  When we look down the ladder at those who have less financial success than us we may feel guilty for the abundance in our own life.  If we feel bad when we look up the ladder and we feel bad when we look down the ladder, there is only one place left to look.  It is the place where we find true happiness and success. That place is inside ourselves.

If we live within our own definition of financial success, then we close the loop of “not enough.” We no longer feel not rich enough. We no longer feel not giving enough. We release the energy of comparing our life and focus it on living our life. We open ourselves up to the potential of being happy, exactly as we are in the current moment.