Managing an Impossible To-Do List by Sharon Teitelbaum

Managing an Impossible To-Do List by Sharon Teitelbaum


I have one. You have one. Perhaps everyone we know has one. So what's the sane way to deal with an impossible to do list? I have compiled some quick-and-dirty strategies that may assist you. Choose any one that appeals and start there.

Please note, however, that if you are consistently overwhelmed by what's on your plate, you may need to make more substantial changes than the ones addressed in this article.

Strategies for Handling an Impossible To-Do List:

Know when it is an impossible list. Don't kid yourself. And don't tell yourself that a better (faster, smarter, etc) person wouldn't find it impossible.

Put the list in priority order. Eliminate the items at the end of the list. They aren't going to happen. Know that you'll deal with the consequences of that as well as you can.

If you need it, get some help deciding what the priorities are and what items can wait.

Apply "The Four D's" to the list 1. Do it. If it's a quick item that you can just do and be done, then do it and get it off the list. 2. Delegate it. Assign it to someone who works for you, ask a colleague for help, hire someone to do it, barter, beg, enlist, appropriate, do not be stopped by failure of the imagination: FIND someone else to do it. 3. Delay it. This is not the same as procrastinate! This means take it off your current list, and move it in your calendar to 3 months from now. At that time, you can reconsider the task and see if it is a priority. If so, get it onto the priority list. If not, either delay again or . . . 4. Ditch it. There are some tasks that just aren't going to get done, period. Use tough love with yourself and get them off your list. Classics from this category: update your resume (when you're not looking for a job), get photos into albums.

When you're working on one of the tasks on the list, apply a laser focus to the task at hand. Don't let yourself be distracted by the other items, and don't second guess yourself. Pretend you're on a ropes course and the task at hand is to walk across a narrow plank 3 stories high. Just focus on what you ARE doing, not what you're not doing.

Know which tasks or segments of tasks are superfluous or redundant and don't do them. Of the many bells and whistles you could add to your projections report, know which ones are mission-critical and which ones are your perfectionism acting out unnecessarily. Of the way-too-many emails you are cc'd on, know which ones you have to read carefully and which ones you can skim or skip.

Ask yourself where you might be making any of the tasks HARDER than they need to be. Is there a way to handle the task easily? Allow easy solutions to present themselves. Look for them.

See if you have any limiting beliefs that are impacting the way you approach the overload. Do you have a belief that things are supposed to be hard, for example? If so, you will definitely experience a hard time. What limiting beliefs are impacting you?

Stay in action. Keep moving. Only action will get you through the list.

Watch for time-stealers. If you spend work time reading non-work emails, stop doing that. Time spent reading heartwarming forwards and looking at video clips is keeping you at work hours longer than you want. These little detours add up. One client of mine realized all the time she spent doing "extra-curricular" things at the office added up to two tennis games she could be playing instead. She chose the tennis.

Copyright 2006 Sharon Teitelbaum. All rights reserved.


About the Author
Sharon Teitelbaum, Master Certified Coach and author of "Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: Restoring Work-Life Balance,” helps busy professionals re-claim their work-life balance. Her coaching, writing, and speaking provide practical, tactical solutions for balance and career challenges. Visit Sharon's website at http://www.stcoach.com and subscribe to her e-course "The 5 Keys to Reclaiming Your Work-Life Balance."