How to Deal with an Endless To Do List
Checklists can be a helpful tool: they can organize your day and make you feel motivated. But when it feels like you’ve got a never ending to do list, you can feel defeated and constantly drained.
You might even find yourself unable to relax or feel like you haven’t ‘earned’ rest because of all the lingering things you need to get done. With this mentality it is easy to fall into emotional eating patterns to avoid your to do list.
Food becomes the only ‘acceptable’ way to take a break, so you go grab an afternoon pastry to get away from your desk or find yourself in the pantry looking for a snack to focus on something other than your tasks. This pattern of eating also packs a one-two punch of helping you disassociate from your to do list and all the feelings around it: stress, overwhelm, anxiety, fear.
It is unavoidable that life will get busy, but that doesn’t mean you have to live in a constant state of stress eating. Here are four key strategies to bring you some peace of mind, without going so far the other way that you feel frozen in the face of action.
Rethink Your List
Prioritize your list by identifying only one to two things you need to get done that day and two to three things that would be nice to get done that day. Anything else is nice to have. This can look like: you might need to do a load of laundry, and it would be nice to fold it all and put it away, but it isn’t 100% necessary.
Time vs. Energy
Ask yourself not what do you have time for, trying to squeeze everything in, but what do you have energy for. Then adjust your list accordingly! If cooking dinner after grocery shopping is a step too far for your energy levels that day, grab a frozen or ready-made meal to serve that night.
Mental Shift
You already know that more tasks are coming, so use this to your advantage! You can tell yourself, even out loud, “that can wait for tomorrow” or “that’s a weekend task.” This can help you cut down on the overwhelm of new tasks and give you a sense of freedom that things can wait.
Share the Load
Find ways to delegate with those in your life, both at home and in the workplace. This can be a central place for family members to write down what grocery items are needed or opening up your work calendar so others can book meetings with you (doing away with the email back-and-forth of trying to find a time that works!).
Remember: progress over perfection! Your activities, needs, and energy will ebb and flow over days and weeks, so be patient with yourself as you try these new strategies.
đź’› Your peace awaits.
