How To Boost Productivity With A Time-Based To-Do List
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Time is not only measured in minutes.
It can also be measured in money, movement, and mindfulness.
Nothing gave me more insight on time (and how I both used and wasted mine) than COVID. I know, I know. For those of us fortunate enough to have made it through the pandemic with our lives, health and sanity intact (even if barely), we are a fortunate bunch. However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t go through the emotional and mental rollercoaster of isolation, discomfort and anxiety.
Time both flew and stood still in the pandemic. It was scary; I felt everything and yet did absolutely nothing, all at the same time. With the exception of work, I had no way of measuring my time wastefulness or usefulness. I also had very little motivation to do anything but get through the day. I felt like I had all the time in the world but also no time at all. 11 am and 11 pm felt one and the same. And not managing my time meant I wasn’t giving myself space to not worry about being productive. The point of time management is to feel like you have more hours just for yourself or your loved ones, not simply to get as much done as possible.
Then I watched an inspirational clip on Instagram, to which the speaker said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” While she was talking about money, I looked at this saying as it applied to time, as well. I then went on to audit my own, as a means of better managing it.
What I learned was, similar to people who aren’t necessarily *broke* but just have issues managing their income accordingly, it wasn’t that I didn’t have *time* for things, I just didn’t manage mine properly. To fix this, I started creating task lists based solely on what I could *realistically* get done in the amount of time I had available. Keep reading for some examples of task lists you can create that are actually realistic based on the time you need (or want) to limit yourself to!
TFD Tasks Menu:
5 Minutes
- Take a moment to breathe & stretch
- Read aloud an uplifting affirmation
- Send a kind text to a loved one
15 Minutes
- Steep, sit and sip your tea (or coffee) at a calm pace
- Read a chaper of your book
- Do any of these 15 FREE things to make you happy
30 Minutes
- Take a walk outside while jamming to your fave playlist
- Audit your auto-payments and unsubscribe to save major $$$
- Make that call you’ve been putting off
1 Hour
- Get all your annoying weekend stuff done in a power hour
- Semi-Clean & refresh your apartment and/or petite space
- Listen to a meditation guide and deep recharge your mental
2 Hours
- Deep clean the toughest section of your home
- Complete that task you put off for too long
- Fulfill a big goal you’ll thank yourself tomorrow for
***
At the end of the day, better managing your time often starts with a checklist. If you need some checklist templates to kick-off your time management skills, check out these 3 Checklist Templates To Motivate No Matter Where You Are In Life
Image via Unsplash
