Dear Girlfriends,

Are you habitually late? Not just occasionally running behind schedule; I mean if you arrive at your girlfriend's party on time she asks you your mother's maiden name because she's sure aliens have kidnapped you and taken over your identity. If this is you, then there is clutter in your schedule.

Or maybe you daily ask yourself, "Why can't I get more done?" I don't mean an occasional one-too-few things scratched from the "to-do" list. I mean you're the last person anyone ever calls to help get a project accomplished. Is this you? If so, then you're the poster child for procrastination.

Girlfriends, running late and procrastinating messes with your mental freedom. You may not know it but it's likely a major contributing factor to the stress you feel each day.

Here's what I have learned about both: if you choose your priorities purposefully, you will be doing only stuff that matters to you. If you're doing only stuff that matters - you will be on time and you will get the things accomplished that you have deemed important. All the other stuff will just fall away. And it all starts with your personal daily list of priorities.

On Monday, list those things that are important to do this week; then, put them in priority order. The first thing on your list of priorities will be to arrive at your destinations this week five minutes early. Why? Because this is a priority. Arriving on time is a direct reflection of your respect for the person or people you have committed to meet. In addition, you will have on your list several activities that must be accomplished. If you have seven items on your list to do this week, do three of them by 5:00 p.m., Tuesday. Absolutely no excuses. Then, take the remaining four on Wednesday morning and reprioritize or add new action items to your list; do three of these by 5:00, on Wednesday. Keep a running list, but refresh it every two days because we all know how priorities can change. Just make sure that you keep a list so you can visually see that things are moving off, not just piling on! You're going to feel so accomplished and so in control.

You know, it's usually not the doing that overwhelms us as much as thinking about the doing.

Making my list and checking it twice,
Ellen

Posted by Ellen on March 27, 2007 12:13 PM  |  Category: Cutting the Clutter