8. End-of-year overload: 7 principles to tame your to-do beast

There are six weeks left in 2024 and there's no need to carry any of your to-do list weight into the new year. No matter how unpredictable your humanitarian job or your working environment may be, this episode presents 2 key mindsets and 7 principles so that you can take control of your workload, notice a massive change in your levels of overwhelm and avoid burnout, as you tackle your priorities with confidence. 

If you’re ready to stop feeling like your to-do list is the boss of you, tune in now and let’s turn things around before the year ends! :)

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Transcript

Hello, hello, hello. What an honor. What a pleasure to be able to talk to you again. Where have you been? What have you been up to? How have you been? Have you been taking care of yourself like I've been begging you to? 

I've been quite well. I can't complain about too many things from my side. Lots of exciting projects ahead. I've been catching up with lots of amazing friends, learning a lot, left and right, applying for new missions, loving all of it.

And as we approach the end of the year, I was thinking we have six weeks left. And I was like, how can I help y'all have the best end of year possible? 

And here's the thing: besides wonky relationships, there is one top reason that humanitarians hire me to be their coach for, and it's their out-of-control to-do lists, severe overwhelm and of course the frequent consequence of it all which is burnout. 

The report inputs, the performance evaluation, the meeting minutes, the admin annoying steps to book your R&R, your mother's birthday, that colleague that needed your help because he can't get Excel to do the thing, that doctor that you have to book, the three million five hundred and sixty two thousand seven hundred and forty three trillion emails clogging your inbox... 

Everything feels like a priority, everything is due yesterday, everything takes more time than what you have and it's very hard to deliver without losing your mind. 

Like have you written and rewritten your to-do list in the hopes that it magically gets smaller? Because I have! And I have time-blocked, and I've bought planners and I've taken productivity classes. 

I've been there, feeling overwhelmed more times than I care to admit. 

But not anymore. 

So today I'm going to give you my seven principles to beat your to-do list into submission once and for all. That's right. Things are about to get super sexy around here. 

And I want you to know that if you do exactly what is recommended in this episode, you will notice that your overwhelm and your tendency to burn out will be dramatically reduced. 

I juggle way more projects, way more priorities than the average mortal, and you'll rarely hear me panic about it. And I focus on adding value everywhere. I focus on delivering at a very high level everywhere. When I'm with loved ones, I am 100% present. 

I've tried and tested this with pretty much all my humanitarian coachees because pretty much all of them used to have this problem at some point. 

And we are examples of what is possible when you commit to this work and decide that you no longer want to feel like your to-do list is your boss. Because my friends, it's the other way around, y'all. Make no mistake! You are the boss of your to-do list. You just don't know it yet. 

So let's go. But first I want to highlight something that's very important. Before we get into the thick of it, I want to offer two quick reflections or mindset starting points that to me are very, very critical. 

The first one is to clarify that you don't need more time. You need to learn to manage yourself and what you do with the time you do have. And that, my friends, is the best news I could possibly give you because you cannot have more time. You cannot change time. You cannot create time. You cannot manage time. 

Time just is. It's the big equalizer in this world. We all get 24 hours, seven days, no matter our role, no matter our duty station, no matter our intelligence levels, 24 hours, seven days. And like every human you probably waste quite a bit of that time, scrolling on social, fighting unnecessary fights, ruminating over stuff that just should be forgotten. Perfecting documents that don't need to be perfect. Thinking and talking about doing things instead of actually doing them, having a two-hour meeting when it could have easily been an email. These are all self-management issues, not time management issues.

And if we don't learn to manage ourselves, our brains, our decisions, our implementation of our decisions, our follow through, sticking to our plans, time can do nothing for us. 

If you're wasting the time you have today and you don't learn to stop doing that, getting more time would just be an invitation to waste more time. 

So that's the first mindset shift: don't focus your attention on managing time, focus your attention on managing you. 

The second mindset shift that I want to propose is the idea that a long, full to-do list is an awesome thing. It's a good problem to have. I don't want to sound like Pollyanna, but this is really critical because if every time you look at your long to-do list, you think it's a problem, that there's a lot of things on it, you're going to be assaulted by stress. Your brain is going to be immediately flooded with cortisol. It's not helpful. You're going to make bad decisions. 

And I always say when you open your fridge or your pantry, and there's a lot of stuff in there, you're like "yay, what are we having today?" I kind of recommend the same energy for your to-do list. You don't want to let stuff rot in there and stink up the whole place. So you want to manage it. 

But the best position to manage it is to not feel like crap when you look at it. You'll be in a position to be a lot more productive if you look at your to-do list from an energy of "cool, can't wait to taste today's flavors" instead of "oh my God, there's all this stuff in here. I just can't", right? 

Who can tackle anything effectively with a defeated and powerless energy? 

Now, if you can't find the way to be excited about what's on your list, it may be because you don't see the end goal of your tasks. So for example, if I continue my fridge metaphor, a carrot is just a carrot. But if you imagine the stews and the soups and the colorful salads that you can make with a carrot, now we're talking, right? 

So like cleaning a data set is a pretty tedious task in and of itself. But if you focus on the added value that a clean data set has on a humanitarian response, of course the task becomes a whole lot more palatable. 

So those are the two starting mindset shifts you need for this work to have its full positive impact. It's not about time management, it's about self-management, and a full to-do list is a good problem to have. If you adopt these mindset shifts alone, already you will notice your energy and your well-being levels improve.

Let's talk about the seven principles that I have to keep my to-do list under control, even when I'm in a very highly stressful, unpredictable environment. 

I do want to say you don't have to do all the seven things at once. You can just pick one, run with it, implement it, master it. And once you have it mastered, you can add a second one and then a third one. And you will notice that your productivity and your capacity to sustain high delivery requirements without losing your mind will be increased. 

So Principle 1: Every day pick two things to focus on and get done. 

And I know, I know what you're gonna tell me. Yes, you don't understand, two things isn't gonna cut it. I have 12 priorities that are huge. But the problem is when you believe that there are 12 things that matter, you start all 12, you may finish virtually none. And you finish the day discouraged. 

So my recommendation is that you pick two important ones, you get them done. And from there, you'll feel momentum to do two more tomorrow and two more the day after that, et cetera, et cetera. By the end of the week, you will have finished your 12 important things, right? 

As for the little things, they will get done. I assure you they will get done. I don't know if you remember that video about like the big rocks and the, the middle pebbles and then the sand. You start with the big things and then everything fits, I promise you. And if something doesn't get done, it's probably because it wasn't that critical to begin with. 

Principle number 2: Stop thinking that things take time. 

Things don't take time. You give them time. So for example, when you were at university or when you take technical tests for applications, you have a limited time to submit something and you do it. Right?

I just had a test the other day: "Produce an advocacy strategy in 90 minutes" and I did it. Meanwhile, in my real life, the last advocacy strategy I produced for my actual job, I spent two months on it. It wasn't because it took two months, it's because I gave it two months. And that's two months where it weighed on my morale, it just made me feel like crap and it just wasn't helpful for anybody. 

So choose deliberately, ahead of doing the task, how long you want to allocate to it. How much time does the task deserve? And then stick to that allocation. Make your decision based on impact, based on the size of the audience, based on the sophistication of the audience, on the shelf life of the product. But just be very clear and then stick to it. 

Principle number 3 is: Define very clear working and non-working windows in every one of your days and then stick to them... 

...so that when you work, you don't spoil your time thinking "ah, I need to rest" and when you rest, you don't spoil your time thinking "I should be working". 

Now, listen, we all do this. It still happens to me occasionally, but it's a huge energy depletion mechanism. Instead of being fully doing what you've decided to do, you're over there on the sidelines with commentary in your head saying that you're doing the wrong thing and judging yourself again, when you're intentional, you get to sit in the power of your responsibility and of your decisions. You don't constantly second guess what you've chosen to do, which is a huge burnout factor, right? That constant commentary and judgment. 

Principle number 4 is: Say "no", or "not now" more often. 

This is something a lot of my coachees come to me for because they struggle with it. In this sector, we're extremely eager to help, eager to support, to make a difference. And of course we understand the importance of being liked, because it makes our lives and our jobs easier. But if you think something isn't important or shouldn't be done by you, you can say "no" and still be liked. You can say "no" and be more respected for it. 

I have learned to use "no" politely and professionally and even really kindly, but without any shyness. And I can assure you that no one I have ever worked with, has ever seen me as a slacking, lazy, undedicated person. On the contrary. The two have nothing to do with each other. 

So learn to say "no", drop me a line if this is something that is really, really hard for you. I'm very, very happy to share my mindset and my tactics with you on this. It really is a priceless skill to have.

Principle number 5 is: To limit drastically the amount of time you spend on your emails. 

Emails are not the job. They're just a communication tool for the actual job, right? No one has ever written terms of reference for position and listed read emails as part of the tasks. Yet how much time do we spend on emails? It's become completely bananas. 

And this is another thing that the humanitarians who come to me for overwhelm or burnout issues, learn to manage in the very first sessions that we have together. 

Spending time on email is spending time on communicating about the work instead of doing the work. And I know I'm exaggerating because communication is a big pillar of our jobs and for those of us working on coordination or managing teams, it's extra important, of course. Yes. And we still have to get the time spent on our inboxes under control. Pick up the phone, use online shared files, task planners. There's so many tools out there that can help you reduce email exchanges. 

But the most important thing is to intentionally limit the time you spend going through your inbox. 30, 45 minutes in the morning, 30, 45 minutes at lunchtime, 30, 45 minutes before closing the day. Khalas, basta, enough! On to actual work. 

Principle number 6 is: That you stop believing that whatever you're working on needs to be perfect. 

What it needs first and foremost is to get done. 

Perfectionism is a trap set by your primitive brain because on some level it believes that your reputation, your worthiness, your respect, your future at work depend on this one task being really perfectly done. But more often than not, it just needs to be done, not perfectly done. 

Perfect is a lie. Perfect is unattainable. Perfectionism is responsible for so much delay, so much procrastination, so much insecurity, so much negative self-talk, unnecessary mental load. I'm extremely passionate about this because this is one of the things that I struggled with the most.

So now, thanks to my coach, I have two new mantras. "B minus is the new A plus", I really love that one, "B minus is the new A plus". Or "80%": "Things have to be 80% good for me to be able to live with them". 

These two beliefs have allowed my productivity to skyrocket, and it is so freeing. 

Principle number 7: Count your achievements every single day.

Have a tiny notebook on your nightstand. When I'm in a really hardcore duty station, I keep it inside my sleeping bag directly. And in that notebook, no matter what kind of day you had, you list the things you got done that day. This is essential. 

Your brain does not naturally take the time to celebrate its wins. For survival reasons, it is much more strategic for the brain to focus and obsess on what we're missing, so that we are motivated to go find it and stay alive, right? Food, water, heat, social validation, you name it, right? 

So as a built-in feature, we are extremely good at noticing gaps, especially our own, but we're not very good at noticing gains. The problem is then you go to bed and you wake up feeling like a failure because you're laser-focused on your shortcomings, on what you didn't do. 

There's a fantastic book by Dan Sullivan called The Gap and The Gain that analyzes this mechanism. And I really highly recommend it. 

When you focus on your gains, you build confidence, momentum, belief that you can get things done and tackle things one after the other. It is essential. So keep a book on your nightstand, list your gains every single day, everything and anything, build your list of achievements, no matter how little, that you can be proud of, and with which you can build momentum for yourself. 

Voila, these are my seven principles. Pick one, run with it, and add another one and another one and another one, and you will notice your entire approach to your to-do list shift and your productivity go through the roofs. 

Number 1: Aim to achieve two important things per day, no more. 
Number 2: Decide consciously how much time a task deserves. 
Number 3: Define working and non-working time slots every day. Keep it clean.
Four: Use "no" and "not now" more often. 
Five: Limit your inbox time. 
Six: Done is better than perfect. 
And seven: Keep a running list of your achievements no matter how small. 

I went through all of these very briefly in this podcast. Each of them would deserve their own episode. But if you have questions and want to connect to ask how I specifically do any of these, please don't hesitate to reach out. I'll be very happy to chat. 

We have six weeks left in 2024. Let's not carry any unnecessary weight into the new year. Beat that to-do list into submission and don't spend another minute feeling overwhelmed. You've got this. 

Thank you for showing up to listen to something that can make your life infinitely easier. See you next week in this magnificent space.

Until then, take care of yourself.