Not Today. A video every woman should watch.

I heard it said recently that one of the biggest shortcomings of the human race is that we fail to realize how fast time goes so today let's talk about how your traditional to-do list can't keep up with the current pace of Life how you can go from feeling it scattered to organized from feeling it completely unmotivated to totally on top of things how day in and day out you can feel productive and organized and most importantly like you're not letting your precious time slip away well today I have a brand new Twist on time management and productivity how you manage your to-do list your task list and all those ideas and things that that float through your mind and so it's a simple process whether you are sold out to using pen and paper or you're looking to incorporate a really simple digital solution that I'll show you so let me give you a quick overview of how it works so step number one is that we have to have a central place to organize everything again that could be a notebook or paper planner or it could be completely digital or a combination of a digital task management system and paper as well that's my preference but we'll get into that number two we have to capture every task that comes in so whether it's something you need to add to the grocery list like we need eggs or a project you'd like to accomplish around the house oh that wall really needs to be painted vacations you'd like to plan or even our decluttering goals like getting the basement organized or sorting all of our photos every task that comes across our brain it's very important that we capture it and then number three we can sort and prioritize so once we get in the habit of capturing all of these thoughts and ideas then we can sort and organize them we can prioritize them as the top three tasks that I need to get done today or sort them into the place they need to go like a grocery or shopping list or a set of errands that need to be ran okay so as you can see I'm trying to use all of these items on our dining room table here to represent just all the different tasks and ideas and things that run through our minds that we have to manage and so let me tell you for most of us two ways that our current system for man managing our tasks come up short so the first is that when something pops into our mind that we need to do or remember often we don't capture it or track it in any way so I might have Amazon returns that I need to do a gift that I need to purchase I might have the thought oh we need eggs or man this room it just really needs to be painted and we don't have a neat and tidy system for how we're capturing and organizing and planning out these things as they come into our mind some of them are bigger things that don't need to be done immediately and other things are time sensitive we have to remember but when they all get jumbled together that's when we lose track of the truly important things and the other things that can just wait their turn the other problem I've seen with traditional to-do lists is that they don't get the full picture so often on our to-do list we are picking out the things that are most important for today you know I'm like okay these are the things that I have to get done today I need to go grocery shopping I have to do an Amazon return and to pick up a gift for the party we're going to so that's great right we write them on our to-do list we check them off as we go the problem is these other things that we've been hoping to get to like the room we want to paint or the photos that we want to sort they're not captured and they're not organized so these things come into our mind and then they go out again and we go oh yeah that's right I wanted to do that because we haven't captured them in any way our brains suck at organizing and managing details it's not what our brains are meant to do and they have been overloaded with inventory so again often you've been really hard on yourself and you're like I'm unorganized I'm unmotivated no when we have too many things swirling around our brain that we're trying to keep track of it often renders us inactive there's so many things that we need to do that when we actually have a few minutes to do them we look at everything and we're like I don't even know where to start I don't know what's the most important and right now if I only have a few minutes I don't feel like untangling this mess to try and figure figure it out so arguably the most important part of this system is to capture every thought idea task that comes into your mind as it comes into your mind so I want to show you I actually want to go into the bathroom and show you a few things that came to me but first today's video is sponsored by blinkist blinkist is awesome and talk about productivity blinkist is so cool because they take over 6,500 non-fiction books they boil it down to blinks or the main points of the book and you can either read them or listen to them all in about 15 minutes per book and there are a few books in there that I really want you to check out that have completely changed how I look at time management productivity task management so most recently I have been inspired by the book not today and this book was especially fascinating to me because it is a time management book written by a husband and wife while they were going through a very tragic circumstance with their son being born with some really difficult heart conditions and eventually needing a heart transplant and so during that time they were able to very clearly see what was most important what had to get done each day and what things did they have to say not today these things simply need to wait their turn and it's very powerful when we can be the ones saying that to certain tasks on our list for us to say not today I'm sorry you need to wait your turn you might be important in the future but today not today and so I highly recommend that you check this book of course a close second is eat that Frog by Brian Tracy and then also there's a really great book by David Allen that I'll link to You Down Below as well he's the author of getting things done so you can get all the keep points from these really transformative books in a very short amount of time and here's another really cool feature of blinkist it's called blinkist spaces this feature allows you to create a space with friends or family where you can recommend titles to each other all members of a shared space can access all titles in the space with or without a blankest premium subscription and it's really fun to be able to share book titles and notes back and forth to each other so if you use our link down below you can get a 7-Day free trial and 25% off blinkist annual premium by using my link in the description or the QR code Okay so so like I said if you will indulge me and head into the bathroom with me um I'll tell you about how tasks used to float through my mind but now how I capture them and what a huge difference that it has made so I was sitting in here and I was amazed at the sheer number of things that came through my mind in the short amount of time that I was in here like don't forget we need more toilet paper and remember you wanted to replace the shower curtain liner like when did that get so gross oh and I love this dispenser but we made a mistake and put it on the wrong end of the shower so I want to remove it but I don't know how and I don't know what kind of adhesive I need to reinstall it on the other end of the shower and I wonder if the G replied about the snacks for play practice tomorrow night and so all of these things were floating through my mind and you know what the problem is by the time I leave the bathroom to go put these on my task list I've all but forgotten maybe one of them I might get toilet paper on my shopping list and that's about it and so I was not doing a good job of capturing these list items and ideas as they came through my mind and then what happens the next time I come in here and I see these things again I say oh yeah that's right I wanted to do that and so I know many of you are sold out on your paper to-do list and I used to be a paper person in the past you might not believe it but I really was I was not looking for a digital solution the problem for me simply was that I just didn't have my my to-do list or my planner with me all the time but guess what's always with me almost 98% of the time my phone is actually with me so using my my phone to capture items onto my to-do list is actually very reliable and I can be very consistent with us and for most of us the stress and the anxiety and the overwhelm does not come from having too much to do we think that's what it is it's not from having too much to do it's from not having it captured not having it written down somewhere not having an easy way to organize it to sort it and to revisit it when we need to and so that's where this system using the to-do app on my phone to capture the ideas and then the desktop version to to organize them has been really helpful so I don't expect to win you over it that easily if you have always relied on paper but let's go out to my computer I'll show you how I use the desktop version I have no affiliation with them I make nothing off of it uh if you use it it's just the best system that I've been able to find so far to manage all the things that I have to manage so first I pick a central place where I'm going to record all of my tasks and lists and ideas that come through number two I'm going to capture every thought and idea and task as it comes through my mind and then three I'm going to sort it so then I like to come over to my computer to sort and organize my task list and again this is where the beauty of using the to-do app comes in because if I have done this you know essentially a brain dump into a notebook or a planner or something written it's a little bit clunkier to now organize these but what I love about the to-do app is that it's very easy to move these tasks into each day of the week and then also create projects or idea lists down below so in the book getting things done David Allen talks about projects so he likes to look at every category or type of thing like we that we need to do as a project so whether it's planning our winter vacation planning a birthday party finding contractors to fix the roof all these different things that we have to do he he likes to look at them as projects and so we can very easily use the bottom section of the to-do app to organize our projects I also like to put my shopping list down there and my errands list so I know for me the day the kids have co-op that is my errand running day so while they're at school I'm running around doing errands and so throughout the week again as I'm capturing my ideas and then when I come to sort them I can very easily move those tasks and shopping list things that I need into the different areas so that I can find them when I need them and what about those recurring tasks like brushing your teeth and taking your supplements changing the cat litter you can actually put those into to-do as recurring tasks so they show up each day which is really cool so no need to keep writing the same things day after day and so the really important part of the system and again this comes from David Allen's book getting things done is that we're not trying to use our brain to remember all of these things that we are getting them down into some format and then from there we are organizing And archiving them so we get them into their project list and then each day I'm looking at the big picture of what needs to get done and strategically pulling tasks in to that day being very aware of how much time and bandwidth and energy I actually have and again what's so neat about this is that like I said in the I would have just this swirl of things that I knew I needed to get done and sometimes it was very difficult to know where to start or what to do or what really was most important but when everything is already in here everything is captured now it is much easier to prioritize my task list and to create it because I'm simply just moving things around and I know for those of you who like the satisfaction of Crossing something off the list you actually get that when you click on an item it crosses it off so it's not quite the same I don't know I actually find it just as satisfying to see it grayed out and crossed out in the to-do app as well and so again I understand those of you who love paper planners and paper list but I I I think for many of us the pace of our life and the amount of things we have to manage has outgrown a paper to-do list and calendar now I still like to use pen and paper to plan and brainstorm and so it still very much has a place in my life but for managing the day Inay out details and lists and ideas that I have I like to have them all in one central place where it's very easy to access and very easy to slide stuff around and I know there's other apps out there that do this I know some of you use different electronic things that's awesome if you have something that is currently working keep using that but if you're looking for something new this is very simple very intuitive very userfriendly does it have some limitations of course but so far this has been the best digital solution for managing tasks that I've been able to find and so again I just want to reiterate the main points for today one have a central place where you record everything and to capture everything as it floats through your mind you know again going back to that book not today I really appreciated that they were writing from a a perspective of going through a life crisis I often feel that time management and productivity systems don't take into account real life and so the other thing that this helps us do is that even if you are in a season of extreme stress right now of very unideal situations if you're still capturing these thoughts as they come into your mind you're still getting them into one central place they will be there when you're ready to address them again so maybe for right now you're in a season where you're like I could not possibly take on anything extra or think about any of these things you know like I said photos that need to be sorted or a room that needs to be painted but you will find by at least writing these Down And archiving them put them in a someday project or would be nice to do by doing that you're still going to feel more in control and these things won't nag at you every time you see them and re are reminded that you don't have the time or capacity for them right now and so that's what I think is so powerful about this system the fact that we are the ones saying not today and that not today isn't choosing us right I don't forget about things now I don't I don't get to uh the kids practices and realize oh no today was the day I was supposed to bring snacks right that not today was decided for me because I forgot about it or I over looked it or whatever I don't have that Sinking Feeling Anymore of oh no I totally messed that up right and so that has felt really good all right if you have a few more minutes I have a couple more tips that have made a huge difference for me too so number one I look at everything I have to manage now is inventory I've talked about everything in our house being inventory but I look at every task and idea and thing added to my list as inventory as well and again when we have it all in one central place it's much easier to see all of the inventory that we're working with you might get it all in there and be like well no wonder I'm always stressed out right look at how much I have to manage and so from there it's easier if we need to say no to things or take things off of our plate number two I try to get places early whenever we're going anywhere so I have a few minutes to go through my text messages and voicemails it's actually quite remarkable all the different ways that people have to communicate with us and how things get added to our list whether it is through a text message or an email or a voicemail and so I like to get places early so I don't have that stress of being late and then also to take a minute to scroll through my text messages voicemails missed calls and if I can take care of it right then quickly shoot back a quick text I will otherwise I'll add it to my task list so again I'm not forgetting these things and I don't have that sinking feeling when I go in the next day and realize that I forgot about it so my task list really is my central Organization for everything that I need to do number three I no longer let my email dictate my day so it's not uncommon for me to make it till 11 o'clock or even noon without checking my email now we all have different demands in our email inboxes but I've turned off the notifications on my phone so I don't see them scroll across across my phone when new emails come in and I only check it a few times a day and with any task if I can take care of it in a minute or two or less I'd like to just complete it right away and not even have to add it to my task list but if there's something that I know is going to take a significant amount of time I take the time to add that to my task list because again when I'm setting my priorities for the day I want to have an accurate picture of what's going on and how long these things are going to take and so if I if I'm studying my tasks but then go to my email and remember oh there's that big thing I need to do now that's kind of throwing everything off and so I don't let email run my day I try to reply to things right away in fact I normally don't read an email unless I do have the time to reply right away but if not if it is something that's a bigger request or is going to take more time then I add it to my task list and in the past I might have if I didn't feel like I could do all the things I wanted to or I didn't feel like I was participating as much as other parents or whatnot it made me feel like maybe I was doing something wrong I wasn't managing my time but now I'm just so aware that time does go so fast and we can only do so many things so there are times where I am saying not today and it's not because I don't care or don't care about our kids obviously right it's just that I we can't do everything but like I said I feel in control of those not todays not the other way around and lastly again I cannot reiterate the power of capturing everything as it comes into your mind our minds are not good at managing list and tasks and ideas so we find a central place to manage those and I think you're going to find that your brain feels less stressed more at ease more at peace less anxious that has definitely been my experience and so I would love that for you too all right so I will link to the to-do app if you do want to try it out there is a few dollar per month charge I probably should have mentioned that sooner I have no affiliation I make nothing off of it like I said it's just been the best thing that I have found so far but I love you I hope you have a really good day a really productive day and I'll see you again soon

Channel: The Minimal Mom

Views: 368,701

Keywords: minimalism, family minimalism, minimalist, the minimal mom, the minimalist mom, minimalist home

Id: MZzG8Zs_2m0

Length: 16min 59sec (1019 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 24 2023