Last week I ran into “the wall of china of getting stuff done.” I lost all of my drive and zest for progression. Don’t get me wrong; none of my anxiety left me. But I couldn’t for the life of me get anything I needed to get done. Well, I put on my big boy overalls and tried to find something that would get me going again, and through a random youtube video – I found my answer, and it has changed the game for me. The best thing is that it’s as easy as writing it down on a post-it note.
Actually, before I start into everything, I want to validate your feeling that sometimes responding to a text feels like running a marathon. Burn out is a real thing, it happens to all of us. It can come through different aspects of our lives. Lack of sleep, emotional stress from relationships, a bad diet, being unbalanced. All of these things add up to making the simple task of texting feel incredible hard. It’s okay that we feel that way. The first step to getting better is pinpointing a few of the things that are making us feel that way.
Every night before you rest your lovely head on your pillow (said “pehlow”), write down four things you need to get done tomorrow. My list looked like this –
- Deep Clean Bathroom
- Cut two songs from 80s night and text the band
- Send Liam Video of Chord Changes
- Renew Drivers License
Yes, this is my actual list.
When I wake up, one of these items is the first thing I do. Before coffee, before breakfast, before going to the – okay, well, my morning pee is the first thing I do.
Could you list more than four? Sure, but you shouldn’t. This is a restart of the system. If you’re crushing it and have a long to-do list that you’re always finishing, then keep on rocking in the free world, brother/sister dude.
If you’re like me and having a rough week, doing ONE item on the itinerary sucks a big old ***** ****. I have adopted the truth that doing four things is better than doing zero things and catching up on some broad city (loving that show right now, that’s for that referral, Garebare).
Your list can have something as simple as sending a text message. Is that a small task. Yes, but ten simple tasks piled on each other end up being one big mess.
You don’t have to share what you’ve done with anyone. It doesn’t have to be embarrassing. You know what you’re struggling to get done. Doesn’t have to clean out your inbox. You don’t have to finish that song. You just need to set a small goal and finish it. It would look more like this.
- Write a version of the verse. (I don’t have to keep it)
It is PARAMOUNT that you actually write it out. if you just think about doing it and don’t write/type it out. You not do it and rest in the rut you’re in.
Don’t be too hard on yourself if you don’t get everything done. If you got ONE of those FOUR things done. You still got ONE thing done!
You know what you need to do, you little monsters. Go forth and multiply (that to-do list).
Dean Nelson 