Productivity Includes the Not To-do List

Everyone strives to achieve maximum productivity. In our personal and professional lives we look to get as much done as possible with the hours we're given. For many of us personal and professional lives are separate, still for those self employed it's hard to find that dividing line since so much of what you do involves both sides of your life. Regardless, where do we find the balance we need and what are we doing to build margins in our lives that creates the buffer between the rest and solitude we need from time to time and the work that needs to be done?

I'll be honest and say this idea came to me while sitting in church service on a Wednesday night. It was a theme that I took from one context and applied it to my own life in a different way. Too many of us run around in a day trying to accomplish a growing to-do list that we can't seem to get away from. More often than not, the most common answer you get to the question "How are you doing today?" or "What have you been up to?" is "I'm busy" or "I've been busy."

Eliminating Busy from Our Lives

Isn't it funny that the more free time you try to get for yourself, the more things you end up filling it with. It's something I'm working hard to fix in my life because the only thing that "running around" and "busy" gets you is unnecessary stress and possibly over commitment, which means someone somewhere was let down. It happens to the best of us.

If you're anything like me, ideas come to you a mile a minute. It's hard to capture all the ideas and take action on them, even though every fiber of your being knows that it's what you want to do. It's hard to shelve the ideas, you'll say to yourself, "if I don't do this now, someone else will," and chances are you might be right.

Finding what matters most to you and gauging what is worth your time and what isn't is probably the best way to start. Identify goals and pathways to achieve them. Chris Brogan does a great job of identifying three words to define his year and everything he chooses to do must somehow fit into one of those three categories. I've tried it, started back in 2009, and it works.

Sometimes it's more important to identify what is on your "Not To-do List" so you don't lose sight of where you want to go.

What To Do with the Not To-do List

In a recent video from Chris Brogan on time management or what it isn't, and an amazing blog post by Sheila Scarborough, two amazing social engagement leaders that you should be following, they tackle the topic and lay the ground work for some amazing life changes. Understanding what you can and cannot do in a 24-hour period is important. Whether you like it or not folks, 24-hours is all we're given, so we need to make the most of it.

That understanding will create the "not to-do list" so that you're not overloading yourself with work that you will ultimately never get to. Building in the margins of time in your life to manage not just the work that needs to get done, but family, friends, relationships, worship, hobbies and let's not forget that thing they call sleep.

Can't imagine putting things to the side? I'm right there with ya, and I admit I'm a work in progress, but understanding my limits, where I set my margins, and what I can and cannot handle in a 24-hour period will create a happier more balanced lifestyle that I can manage.

Photo Credit koalazymonkey, crashmaster007