Learn to Love Your To-Do List: Self-Recognition Through Time Management

Oct 19, 2023

By Sarah McVanel, Chief Recognition Officer, Greatness Magnified

In Canada, there is this delicious window when the golden leaves don our trees. Are you too busy to enjoy them? Are you worried another fall will fly by where you will say, “Oh darn, I missed them!” Must you have to wave them goodbye from inside the office, or can you find time to enjoy them outside?

Let’s face it. The “to-do” list will not become the “to-done” list just because you sacrificed your wellness routine…yet again.

Instead:

• Tomorrow, give yourself a time limit on answering emails and force yourself to finish twice the work in half the time.
• Send your regrets to your least productive meeting this week
• Bump your start of the day half an hour earlier with a forced exit a half hour early. (Set your timer every weekday with an alert for when it is time to check out…do not hit snooze!)

Are you thinking to yourself, “Yeah, right, that would be nice, but that wouldn’t work for me!”. There’s actually research backing this up.

Parkinson’s Law is an old adage that says work expands to fill the time allotted for completion. If you have 8 hours to complete a task, it will take you 8 hours. If you only have 30 minutes, you will get it done in 30 minutes. When you know you have more time to complete something, the task grows in scope. (Fun fact: I studied this in my fourth-year psychology thesis wayyyyy back in the day when we all had to buy a Furby, we became brunch obsessed with the new Sex in the City gang, and berets became more than a fashion statement thanks to Bill and Ms. Lewinsky. Okay, back to the article…)

By shrinking the time you get for work, you can get more done in the time you have. It’s not that you’re inefficient; it’s just that you need to be miserly about it. Make work tasks audition into your life (versus life squeezing around work.)

If you want to be great tomorrow and know you can be, you need the mental, emotional, and physical energy to focus and perform. And that means, ironically, you may need to stop working and get outside.

PS. Looking for more organization and prioritization tips? We have just launched a very special, absolutely delicious signature program – ROCKSTAR Leadership! We want to help you and your team hone in on your organization, delegation and time management skills. Curious about it? Let’s connect.

Here are more self-care ideas designed to help you manage your time and wellness:

• I Don’t Have Time: You Are Either Engaging in Self-Care or Self-Neglect

• Self-Care: Challenging the Self(ishness) of Putting Yourself at the TOP of The List

• What Does It Take To Embrace Possibilities and Give Yourself Recognition?