I know, not everyone is totally as crazy as me, but my mama friends must know what it’s like to have a mind that’s just ready to explode with things to do and no way to organize or prioritize. The best solution? Learn how to get more done in a day!
My husband calls my mind a spiderweb that never stops getting spun! I always have new ideas and a hugely intense fire for doing them all right away, all at once. At the same time, life is hectic and I must prioritize, so I lean on my to-do lists. Let’s talk tips and tricks for prioritizing, getting stuff done, and learning about which tasks are truly worth spending time on.
Today’s Goals: Set up lists for what must be done today, what must be done soon, and what you want to do at some point. Then, set aside the list of want-to-do tasks for a while and revisit to see if you still want to give them a try, and give yourself small goals so that you never get too overwhelmed.
IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALKED ABOUT:
- My personal war with ideation, time management, and prioritization
- How I’ve learned how to get more done in a day by organizing my thoughts with a system of lists
- Saving time and frustration by walking away from ideas before I reevaluate their importance
- Getting stuff done more efficiently by putting tasks into smaller containers rather than overwhelming myself with huge goals
Episode 14 Transcript: How to Get More Done in a Day
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Making Mommy Moves Show. I’m so excited and thankful that you’re here with me today. Hopefully, you’re really loving the show so far, and everything that we’re bringing to you each week. In today’s episode, I want to talk to you about something that I have a hard time with personally. And it’s ideating. That’s a word right when you’re just dreaming about all the different opportunities and potential in your life and struggling with how to prioritize.
So something that I do a lot and it’s like all day long, actually, is I’m thinking about new ideas, and it’s almost kind of scary like how quickly I can act on them. Whether it’s a potential real estate opportunity or new business idea, something I want to do with the kids something that I want to incorporate in the podcast or an episode that I want to record, all of every single thing that you can think of something I wanted to do, that the house or outside my ideas never stopped coming. My mind is on 25/8, my husband says that it’s like a spiderweb because it’s just from one topic to the next and then sometimes looks back, and then I have a different branch that I’m going off and then before you know, I’ve got a whole different web.
It’s seriously kind of crazy the way that my brain works. But if you’re struggling with this, also, I want to talk about some of the things that I do to try to keep me on track. The first thing I do is create a list. I survive off of lists, so this is no surprise. I have a to-do list, a today-to-do list. An I-want-to-do list. And on each of these lists, one of them is a mile and a half long. And the other has anything that I’m hoping to accomplish in the day, the mile and a half one, I’ve got all of my ideas in there, and then I marinate on them.
And if it still doesn’t inspire me when I look back at it, it wasn’t one that I really needed to do. Let’s think about that for a second. When you have so many different inspiring ideas that you just feel this like action that you need to take right now, whether it’s to go apply for a loan so that you can buy a new property or you have this new business idea as you start to apply for the LLC. You start building your website and creating the logo and all of the things, and then like three weeks later, no I’m not really good at this or maybe this wasn’t the right fit for me, or do I really have time for that?
Think back on the thing you put on the list three weeks later — does it still inspire you? Does it still light you up? Do you still have that nagging feeling in the back of your head that I really need to do this? If you do, you probably do start to take that inspired action and get it done. If it doesn’t, maybe it wasn’t a good idea. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for the right now, maybe leave it on your list and come back to it in a year and you might feel inspired about it again.
I know Jenna Kutcher had talked about on her show that she had this like gut feeling that she needed to write a book and she had it on her list of possibilities for over two years before she decided it was time. Maybe create your list. See what is a priority to you right now. Something else that I do when I’m creating my agenda for the day. I try not to overwhelm myself. I give myself maybe three or four items, sometimes five or six depending on the day and how easy they are and that’s my agenda for the day. If I finish it early, I can pull some more on there. But giving yourself too many things at once can be really overwhelming.
And then you almost procrastinate starting because it’s just so many things and you don’t know where to start. Prioritize and order of operations so that you know first, I’m going to clean the dishes, then I’m going to fold the laundry. Then I’m going to write my book for two hours and then I’m going to bring the kids to the doctor’s appointment, so that you know exactly what you’re doing and in what order. You don’t even have to think about it. You just do.
You remember in school when we would have like assignments due for the week. Sometimes they’d give me three weeks to get something done and you’d wait until three days before the assignment was due to get started? We’re kinda in the same way with our ideas and the way that we prioritize things. If you overwhelm yourself too much with too much time. You’re gonna procrastinate on it. Give yourself a smaller window, a smaller little container to get the work done and I promise you’re probably going to done and if you don’t that’s okay. At least you’re a little bit closer to getting the task done. It’ll be started and it’ll be almost done whatever deadline you gave yourself. You’ll be that much closer to moving the needle on that thing.
So how was that episode guys? Was that inspiring for you? Did that kind of open your mind about the ways that you can think about all of the ideas that you’re having, and how to prioritize them and a different little trick that you can use to try to get more done and be more productive? If you found this episode helpful. Please share it with your friends on social media, tag me on Instagram, it’s @lyss.morton, and I’m so excited to see what you took away from the show. As always I will see you on the next one. Bye!
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