Decluttering Your To-Do List

If you feel like you “never have time”….time to relax, time to take a breath, time to finish that 10 page to-do list…then it’s time to declutter your list.

Here are my Top Tips for Re-hauling your To-Do List

- so you can fall back in love with your life.

NOTE: Decluttering your to-do list - I have discovered - is a LOT like decluttering and organizing a room.

Which is great news because we all know how amazing decluttering a room feels!

It also means there are some logical steps that make it super simple.

Let’s do it….

#1: Determine your Goals

The big goals. The ones deep down in your heart.

This might seem like adding to your to-do list but without figuring out what you reeeeallly want, you will spend your days spinning your tires.

As adult responsibilities pile up (houses, babies, after-school activities), we tend to focus all our energy towards the grown-up “must-dos” - and further away from the things that make us squeal with excitement.

This becomes DRAINING.

Fast.

If you feel lost when it comes to what you want out of life, give the following a try:

read books that get you PUMPED
listen to podcasts that psych. you. up.
meditate (then try it another 489 times until it sticks)
journal about your ideal future life (putting pen to paper is magical)
go for a walk and daydream about all those little secrets on your heart

Most importantly just pencil in time to PAUSE - and assess where the h*ll you are headed.

This is a judgement-free step - if you can’t stop thinking about how much you truly want to start making candles, or start homeschooling your kids, or move to Florida - put it on the list!

When I meet with a client to organize their home, one of the first things I ask is how they want their space to function. How do they want it to look - and work - and feel.

This gives us a goal. Something to plan around.

Same goes for your time! Take a look inwards and decide how you want your days to look - and function - and feel.

#2: Off-Load

It’s time to re-home items (tasks) that don’t belong!

i.e. off-load tasks from your list to someone else’s list.

One person can only do so much!

Choose specific tasks to take off your plate (for a day, or for life.)

This could involve paid help or borrowed help or grandparent help or neighbour help or partner help.

Ask you partner to take over all kids’ extracurricular activities or pet care - or ask your mom if she can take-on the bedtime routine every Monday night - or hire a cleaner so you never have to mop again. Any activity that weighs you down and can easily be transferred to someone else.

What would happen if you re-focused those hours into something that fuels your passion and gets you closer to your ideal life?

Actually think about that for a second.

*Note: That thing that fuels your passion might be REST. The goal isn’t to be busier. The goal is to do the things that are right for YOU.

Imagine that your schedule is a living room that we are re-hauling - this living room can only fit so much. It can’t be a space to relax and a space to store your old paint cans.

There are some things that just don’t belong in the living room (or on your to-do list).

Let’s “re-home” these items somewhere else.

Anywhere else.

I recently read Fair Play by Eve Rodsky and loved it. If you are considering off-loading items to your partner, I hiiiighly recommend. She provides step-by-step strategies for creating a fair split of responsibilities.

Scott and I went through Eve’s “game” a few months ago and it has made a HUGE difference in our house. I will write more about it for a future post but for now I will say that I no longer make any weekend meals and it’s freaking BLISS.

Next step - decluterring…

#3: Practice Removing Things Completely

This one revolutionized my way of thinking.

When I’m feeling overwhelmed I look at my agenda and remove a few things.

Sometimes a lot of things.

And I never put them back on!

I’m still mind blown by how many things that I think I have to do - but I really don’t.

And nobody notices.

And the world doesn’t end.

Consider everything you do daily - is it…

Necessary for survival?
Moving you toward your ultimate goals?

If it isn’t, get it off your list!

If you take away one strategy today, make it THIS ONE.

It is life altering.

Promise.

This one is also veryyy easy to compare to physical clutter - imagine tossing 15 no-longer-played-with Spiderman figurines in the donate pile and never looking back.

How good does that feel?!?

Try the same thing with your to-do list.

Remove. Erase. Delete. Edit.

#4: Embrace Empty Spaces

This step is rarely talked about but it’s pure magic.

Not every minute of your day needs to be full of accomplishing and busyness.

But somehow that has sort of become the norm.

Imagine for a second you scheduled an entire afternoon of nothingness?

How amazing would that feel??

Little kids are the best inspiration for this - last weekend my four year old spent a whole day counting the coins in her piggy bank, telling me made-up stories and crawling on me while I read. At the end of the day I apologized to her for such a boring day. She looked at me like she didn’t understand what I was saying. Then she gave me a kiss and started a new make-believe story.

Kids are amazing at embracing “empty” time slots. Try taking their lead.

For a lot of families, being comfortable with empty spaces in their homes can feel very strange at first too.

Filling every wall, shelf and square foot of our homes with stuff has become expected. We often forget that it’s ok to leave spaces open.

More than ok.

It’s liberating.

Empty spaces = more room to fun, play, breathe, stretch, relax and create.

Empty spaces also mean less visual clutter (therefore, less mental clutter), less money spent on items you don’t need (more money for fun) and easier to maintain spaces (more time for adventure).

Same principles apply to your time.

“Empty” time = more time for fun, hobbies you forgot you loved, moving your body, nature and pausing to appreciate all the amazing parts of your life.

Embracing empty spaces in my schedule and our home have slowly started to feel more and more natural.

And absolutely lovely.

My hope is that you find the joy in it too.

#5: Be Patient

Think back to Step #1 - figuring out what the heck you want your day-to-day life to look like.

There is a good chance that your ideal life is a far cry from your current reality. Or there are aspects that need a major overhaul.

That’s ok! That just means that certain areas are going to require time to shift.

If your dream is to buy your first home or spend more time with your partner or become a cattle rancher in Montana - it’s going to take some time!

Simply by filling your schedule with things that are serving you and your true self, you will instantly feel less strained and hectic.

Same goes for your home - going from cluttered to your dream home takes time and TLC.

I love the onion-peeling analogy from The Minimal Mom. Decluttering takes multiple steps. Each time you do it, you peel off more and more - and get closer to the centre!

Decluttering your life takes multiple phases.

But by simply removing clutter that no longer fits into your life, you will start to see opportunities that you never saw before.

What’s one little step you can take today to declutter your to-do list and focus on the things that mater most?!?

Bonus Tip: Know Your Season

I want to yell this one from the rooftops!

In some seasons of life simply surviving the year is a REAL goal. If you have a child under the age of 2, if you recently suffered a major loss, if you are starting a new job, if you just underwent surgery – the list goes on - recognize what ‘season’ of life you are in and RESPECT that.

While you’re at it….give yourself GRACE!

If taking a break doesn’t come naturally to you, start NOW. It gets easier with practice.

Alright, there are tips mama.

Try the ones that speak to you. Leave the rest.