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The Hustle Culture
We live in the Burnout Hustle Culture where if you’re not working extremely hard, ideally, 80-100 hours a week you are either unambitious or you’re just procrastinating. We are expected to be busy multitasking in every waking moment and if we’re not, we are lazy and unambitious. Or even worse, we are labelled as procrastinators that are living the life of failure. In such an environment, there’s no place to breathe or simply to be.
Am I exaggerating or this is how the modern work culture makes us feel? Is it true that we need to be busy all the time to live a meaningful and fulfilling life? Or maybe it’s quite the opposite. Maybe this pressure to do more and perform always well is self-imposed? Are you creating additional mental stress by setting unrealistic expectations for yourself? I am sure you know the answer to those questions. But to make it even more clear to you, I have one more question. And here it is:
Do you ever think that maybe you don’t have to accomplish everything that’s on your to-do list?
I mean, you could postpone or even delegate some tasks to others. I will say even more: not only you could outsource some of your tasks but also you could delete those that you actually don’t need to do. This way, you could focus on what’s truly important instead of doing everything else, even those things that don’t add any value to your work and life. Wouldn’t it be great to have more time for things that are actually your priorities? Not to mention that delegating or even relating some of the tasks will make you feel mentally liberated? And let me tell you something, that’ sone of the best feelings ever (along with scratching that itchy part or being done with a hard workout).
Anyways, if you feel that having too much on your plate is making you extremely stressed, overwhelmed and anxious you’ve come to the right place! In this post, I am sharing with you my extremely easy ways to simplify and prioritize so that you can stop predicting full-blown panic mode and focus on your true priorities. Shall we?
'Time is a currency you can only spend once, so be careful how you spend it.'
Self-Reflection Questions:
- Are you constantly running out of time?
- Are you struggling to manage your to-do list?
- Are you failing to meet deadlines?
- Are you struggling to prioritize your tasks because everything is urgent?
- Do you feel overwhelmed by your workload?
- Are you struggling to find a work-life balance?
- Are you finding it hard to let go of the things that don’t add value to your life?
- Do you wish you had time to relax?
- Are you eating your lunch in a hurry?
- Are you sleep-deprived?
What You Will Learn:
- Simplifying & prioritizing your life
- Reaching your full potential
- Making your productivity skyrocket
- Managing your time wisely and effectively
- Increasing self-motivation
- Improving your critical thinking skills
- Enhancing your problem-solving skills
- Learning to stay ridiculously focused on your goals
- Taking strategic action that moves you directly toward your main goals
- Taking control of your life, day and time
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You Have the Same 24 Hours as Beyonce
Time, energy and attention are the limited resources that’s why you need to learn to use them wisely. Otherwise, you will keep missing deadlines despite your commitment to hard work. And we all know how stressful, unmotivating and defeating not being able to meet deadlines makes us feel. That’s a horrible feeling. Not to mention that it can ruin your reputation in the workplace. So, what is a solution? Is there any way we could get to Beyoncé-Level Productive?
Prioritize With The Eisenhower Box
So what to do when you feel like you’re tied to a jam-packed schedule and you’re about to enter full-blown panic mode because you don’t know what urgent task you should be dealing with first. Well, there’s a lot of different ways to figure that out, but in my opinion, the Eisenhower Box is not only the simplest but also the most effective method to prioritize your tasks. Believe me or not (or just try it yourself!) but this simple time management strategy will not only help you to master the art of time management but also it will drastically improve the quality of your life.
Ok, ho how exactly the Eisenhower Box works? Well, first of all, the Eisenhower Box, also called the Eisenhower Matrix is a visual method designed by President Eisenhower that consists of 4 quadrants:
- DO - urgent and important tasks that need to be done immediately (ex. crisis management, pressing deadlines, urgent problems)
- DECIDE - important but not urgent tasks that aren’t your top priorities (crises, emergencies, hard deadlines) but you should schedule them to ensure that progress is being made (ex. strategic planning, organizing, investing in yourself, prevention, personal development, strengthening your personal relationships, new opportunities)
- DELEGATE - urgent but not important tasks that need to be done but they can be done by someone else (ex. responding to some emails, meal prep)
- DELETE - not urgent and not important tasks that don’t add value to your life (time-wasters, distractions, unnecessary decisions, non-critical choices)
Grab You FREE The Eisenhower Box Worksheet
We have the tendency to focus only on the 1st quadrant which consists of things that are URGENT & IMPORTANT. This means that we spend most of our days on managing crises and their consequences. And as much as things that are identified as URGENT & IMPORTANT should be done immediately that’s not a great way to go through life, isn’t it? Not to mention that in most cases, things that are urgent and important are such because we have delayed too long in doing them. In consequence, we are too busy putting out fires to get anything important done. And that’s a very reactive and stressful way of living. A much better option would be to focus more on Quadrant 2 and live a life that is proactive instead of reactive.
Being focused on Quadrant 2 means putting more time on valuable things that improve the quality of your life. So if you’re constantly overwhelmed by with the amount of URGENT things you have to do ASAP it means that you need to improve your time management skills, focus on strategic planning and definitely declutter your jam-packed schedule.
Create A Not-To-Do List
Got a to-do list? Great! Now it’s time to make a not-do list so that you can focus on what’s truly important and adds value to your life. Because let’s face it, if your schedule is jam-packed you will not have enough time to get everything done that you’ve planned, anyway. That’s why instead of desperately trying to finish your never-ending to-do list while sacrificing your rest, free time, social life and most likely also your sleep hours you should create NOT-TO-DO LIST. And here is how you can easily do it:
To-Do List - Tasks and Activities that create RESULTS (Take Action)
Not-To-Do List - Tasks and Activities that produce low or zero results (Procrastinate)
1. Make a list of all your to-do’s, goals and responsibilities for the next month
2. Decide what 3 goals/items have the biggest impact on your life (these are you top 3 priorities for the next month)
3. Plan the next action steps to move closer to your most important goals/items and add them to your schedule and calendar
4. Identify what things on your to-do list you don’t have to do by yourself and you could easily delegate them to others
5. Identify what items on your to-do list are unimportant and don’t bring ANY value to your life and eliminate (or postpone) them
6. Items that you decided to delegate and eliminate from your NOT-TO-DO list
Best Posts On Productivity
Stay positive
Be mindful
Declutter your jam-packed schedule
Create a Not-To-Do List
and
Regain control of your time
xo Kate
4 thoughts on “Too Much On Your Plate? This Simple Method Will Help You To Simplify And Prioritize Your Life.”
I like this idea…
THANK You, Greg! I’m happy to hear that!! Have a peaceful and beautiful Sunday!! 😉😊
Thank you 🙂
You’re welcome!! Take care and have a peaceful and beautiful week!! 😉😊