Let's face it; most days are very busy days that consist of a massive To Do List that is often quite frankly, unrealistic!
Why? Because we spend so much of our day doing essential tasks that are not on the list but have to happen every day.
E.g. Making your bed, washing up, getting the kids to and from school without a meltdown on either of the school runs, feeding the dog, feeding the family, going to work, getting the food shop, doing the dishwasher...... Wow I know how to make a day sound fun hey!
But truthfully - that's all in a days work for many of us! So when you have additional tasks to fit in, it's understandable that you feel overwhelmed and like there isn't enough hours in the day sometimes. So how can we make this situation better?
Let's start with looking at the real essential tasks. The tasks that no matter what have to be completed today, and question your reasoning on that decision.
For example; if you light your log burner every night, do you really need to clean the hearth to a perfectly polished effect every single day? No. A quick tidy up and continue with your day will suffice when your busy. Only 3 or 4 bits to wash up? Wait till there's a bit more and do 1 load rather than 2.
Next look at things you can stack together. Let's pick a simple one and say you've got a letter to post, you need to meet a friend and walk the dog and entertain your child? Easy - put it all together, walk to the park with your friend, dog & child via the postbox (& a coffee shop!)
Remember to think about timing when stacking tasks too - what needs doing that is in the same direction as school? Can you do it on the school run rather than as a separate journey?
Another thing to think about is if you have a physical list or are your tasks flying around your brain like dizzy pigeons. Writing a list can help you to prioritise taks, prevent overthinking and then feel the sense of achievement when you tick things off the list at the end of the day.
So, make sure you've got things on your To Do List as listed above like the mundane daily tasks so you can see what you really did get done today. Otherwise you're going to get to the end of the day, look at your To Do List and think you've done nothing. You'll feel like you've failed and you'll be disappointed. Whereas if you actually include the mundane things on your list that do take up a lot of time in your day; not only can you see that they’re the reason some other things didn't get done, you'll feel like you've made some progress today!
Another tool I like to use is to make a point at the end of the day of writing down 3 positives as a minimum from your day. Now you might think well, I've not had a good day, but a really bad day actually. But if you actually take the time to sit and think about it, I'm sure you can find three things that have gone well or that you have done or achieved. These will put you in such a good mood, so taking just 3-5 minutes to sit on your own and think about your day and reflect and find something positive is so beneficial to increase your mood.
And finally, remember, you're human. So yeah, you're not going to get everything done in a day, and you're going to get things wrong sometimes, but that's alright because that's how we learn. If you don't fail, you don't realise what you did wrong and then you don't know how to grow from it?
I hope you find this helpful and can take something from it to help you be kinder to yourself daily.
