Lose the 'List Anxiety'
We have become a list-making society. This isn’t inherently bad, but it can snowball out of control quickly if we aren’t careful. Too many of us (I’m raising my own hand high here!) tend to view our lists as a gold star of achievement as opposed to a tool we can utilize to simply keep us on track throughout the day. We don’t respect its limitations… or our limitations. We cram, pack, and stuff our agendas so full that there’s zero room for anything beyond them. What we may not realize is that, while we think we’re making life easier, we find ourselves caught in this daunting and dangerous loop of making life busier. So how do we move away from this never-ending cycle of anxiety overload brought on by our laundry list of constant ‘have-to's?
Allow me to suggest the following:
1. BALANCE YOUR ‘NEED TO’S’ AND ‘WANT TO’S’
If you’re like me, you tend to pack your list with a plethora of things you need to accomplish and neglect a bunch of other things you really want to do. Then, you get overwhelmed and flip to avoiding the responsibilities you genuinely should get done by diverting your attention to more enjoyable activities. Too much of either can steal joy and/or create burnout. Your list should have a healthy balance of ‘need-to’s’ and ‘want-to’s’. Ideally, it’s helpful to alternate the two groups to allow yourself a pleasant flow. Once you find a rhythm to your schedule, you’ll feel much more relaxed and emotionally available at the end of the day.
2. LIMIT YOUR LIST
Another bad habit I struggle with is trying to pack too much into a 24-hour-period. This leaves me feeling exhausted, frustrated, and like a full-blown failure if anything is left undone. Can you relate? I’ve found it incredibly effective to assign times to my tasks. For example, Task A will take 30 minutes, Task B requires 1 hour, Task C needs 15 minutes to complete, and so on. You must include anything that takes up your time (those small tasks can be sneaky and collectively become a substantial chunk of time!). As you lay out your day, set your max for a total of eight hours (possibly less depending on your individual situation). This will help you feel less overwhelmed, and it will give you breathing
room. Stacking your checklist items on top of each other leaves you no margin for error creates chaos when unexpected events arise and makes you less likely to invest in anyone else. Let your schedule be free and flexible- you’ll feel much more productive, proactive, and peaceful.
3. BE REALISTIC ABOUT TIMEFRAMES
As you build out your list, make sure that you are accurately accounting for time. This is yet another area I had to improve in. I used to consistently underestimate how long a project or activity would take. When this occurs, two things tend to happen. The first is that you rush through the thing you are frantically trying to complete, and quality suffers. The second is that you fall behind in the rest of your
day (especially if you also neglected to limit your list!). We’ve all experienced this avalanche. It’s not worth the headache and heartburn it produces.
So let’s ditch the unnecessary stress and lose the list anxiety, friends! Let’s be intentional about being intentional and believe wholeheartedly that we are called to a life defined by who we are, NOT by what we do.
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”
-Proverbs 21:5-