It’s easy to get bogged down with endless to-dos at work and home. In order to manage the load, I first pause and ask myself intentional questions before adding a new to-do to my list.
I do this to make myself more thoughtful about what I continue to add as a person who has realized my identity is intertwined with accomplishment.
These are the questions I consider before adding a to-do to my list:
- Can this be delegated?
- Can this be automated?
- Can this be outsourced?
- Can I let this go?
- Am I the right person to do this?
- What’s the timeline given what’s on my list already?
- What are my priorities right now, will this distract from them?
- Why do I want to do this anyway?
- What am I giving up if I do this?
When we are intentional enough to pause and assess, we may realize we don’t need to do it all.