Finding More Hours in Your Day

It’s a plague sweeping the masses…too much to do and not enough time to do it. 

Unless you’re in a Dali painting, it seems time does not bend. No matter how frustrated you get, you cannot seem to put 25 or 26 hours in a day. Ugh.

A client came to me with this issue. Though she was a whirlwind of energy, achieving and doing, she could never seem to get “enough” done.

There’s a weird magic in coaching—sometimes a client talks aloud long enough to let their own inner wisdom sneak out:

“Maybe I’m putting too much on my to-do list.”

Aha, now we’re on to something! 

I asked her to share all the things that were currently on her to-do list from that moment until bedtime. Then I asked:

“What do you absolutely HAVE to do today?” There was one thing.

One thing! Yet there were many things left on the list. I said, “What do you make of that?” 

In that moment, she realized her stress was self-imposed. Zap came the insight that changed everything. She had been putting unrealistic (and unnecessary) expectations on herself. She was feeling that everything on her list was a HAVE-TO, when really, all but one were SHOULD-DOS (or COULD-DO-ANOTHER-TIMEs). 

And what was happening in her life while she was living that way?

• High level of stress
• Constantly feeling behind
• Difficulty sleeping
• Sagging energy
• Feeling undeserving of doing things she enjoyed (gotta pay to play, right?)

In short, a cycle of too much to do, not enough time to do it, not getting it done, feeling bad, not having enough energy to tackle the to-do list, feeling bad, rinse and repeat... 

There are three types of things: GOTTA-DOs, SHOULDS and WANNA-DOs. Aside from the GOTTA-DOs, you get to choose. You are not a victim! You can loosen your reins.

So the next time you make your to-do list, start with your gotta-dos, then add in enough wanna-dos to stay on top of things and give yourself some joy. (I’ll share a secret with you: joy fuels energy, which then fuels productivity…).

Then do your best not to should on yourself…