Research shows that a person at any given time has more than 300 hours of things to do. Books you want to read, projects you want to start or finish, favors to others, etc. As the list of things to-do grows, so does the feeling of being behind. Even if you are currently working on things that are important, the amount of unfinished business far outweighs what you accomplish. To prevent this unbalance, there needs to be a shift!
You need to work on the right things at the right time. Only accept projects into your plate that are appropriate for the moment. I once had on my to-read plate, a triathlon binder full of information about becoming a better triathlete. The problem? I wasn’t planning on doing a tri for another year. It was not right for me at that time. With this criteria in mind, select the things on your plate that are not the right things for right now and push it off your plate. This way, the amount of things to do will decrease as well as the feeling of always trying to catch up.
The proactive NO. Saying NO can become a challenge when you need to give an answer on the spot. When you are cornered, saying yes it’s just easier than saying no. To make sure you have an exit strategy, be proactive with your NO. Know in advanced the things you don’t want to do. For example, I don’t want to be part of the Happy Hour Queens in my town because they meet on Mondays and I don’t enjoy staying late during the week. When they ask me to join, my response is “I’m sorry, I don’t go out during the week”. If I didn’t know this in advanced, I probably would say yes, and then regret it.
Creating these two strategies to limit the amount of things you give yourself to accomplish can be the start of a brand new day for you. Remember, you are solely responsible for what you take on, so don’t take more than you have to.
Written by Araceli Gonzalez
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