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“I have so much to do, I just don’t know where to start!”

Sound familiar?

It’s common to feel that way when you’re drowning under the weight of your to-do list.

And when looking at your list makes your brain hurt because everything is important and needed to happen yesterday, it’s easy to slide into analysis paralysis.

It’s no secret that social media can be exceedingly bothersome when it comes to getting stuff done.

So you may be surprised that today I’d like to acknowledge the positive role those platforms can play in our lives, why there’s no shame in wanting to engage with them and how, if we use them well, they can enhance our day-to-day experience rather than hinder it.

Last year I had the privilege of working with a very smart mentoring client who had incredible gifts to offer the world but was getting in her own way because she couldn’t get herself organised.

During our very first conversation, she said matter-of-factly that she had never been taught how to be productive. She didn’t see her disorganised way of working as a failing or a character flaw, she’d just never been shown a different way.

A while ago I shared a story about a meltdown involving a stapler. In today’s instalment of Louise's Meltdown Moments (not an actual thing, but perhaps it should be…!), I’m sharing a cautionary tale about the dangers of decision-making.

Take a look at your to-do list.

How many small things have been lurking on there for what feels like forever?

By ‘small things’, I mean tasks that would take less than fifteen minutes.

You know the small tasks I mean, right? The ones you just never seem to get around to but that you really can’t ditch.

Have you ever noticed how many times you reach for your phone during the day? Do you think you could put a number on it if you had to hazard a guess?

No?

If you're anything like me, and many, many other people, you probably pick up your phone without even realising you're doing it. It's like some weird muscle memory thing. It's become habitual.

Setting an intention can be incredibly powerful. Whether big like a goal for your business, or small like the intention I set when I sat down to write this email, having an intention is jolly useful when it comes to getting things done.

Our intentions help us to stay focused on what's important, to stay in our own lane and to stay motivated when things feel tough.

So why is it that even when we have clear goals for our business, even when we can see where we're heading and feel excited about getting there, we still often find ourselves frittering our days away?

How's your to-do list looking these days? Never-ending? Growing more quickly by the hour?

Tiring, isn't it?

In fact, I think that's rather an understatement.

Our to-do lists can cause colossal amounts of worry and frustration.

During the last month or so I've been in full-on reflective mode, looking for the nuggets of wisdom hidden beneath the discomfort (if you missed last week's post about my recent bout of anxiety, you can catch up here). Something that came up time and time again was the importance of clarity.

One month ago I tried a little experiment. I wanted to see what would happen if I spent one week with no TV, no radio, no podcasts, no internet, no phone and no reading after 5.30pm.

My hope was that I'd have loads of great ideas, be inspired to write, draw and make music, get outside, exercise, play games and bask in a slower, richer end to each day.

I was completely and utterly unprepared for what actually happened.

What do you do when you're feeling stuck in your business? When, like me, you know what you need to be doing but for whatever reason it's just not happening? Or when you don't know what to focus on next and can't seem to move things forward?

May I suggest a new approach to tackling stuckness?

A couple of days ago a quote caught my eye:

"Slow living is this weird duality of being prepared, organised, having systems in place, knowing what's coming and managing expectations, and being flexible and fluid and understanding that life happens."

Replace “slow living” with “productivity”, and Brooke has expressed my philosophy way better than I ever could.

Many moons ago, when working in a very busy, pressured job, I used to sit down on a Monday and plan out what I intended to get done every day that week. 

I honestly believed that seeing precisely when things would get done gave me control over both my time and my to-do list. 

There were just two problems with that…

Today's tip of the months is a quick one!

Turn off your emails.

If you're anything like me, as soon as you see a notification telling you there's a new email in your inbox, curiosity kicks in.

Is work-life balance a real, achievable thing that we should all be aspiring too?

Or is it, in fact, a myth.

I’m a huge advocate for creating space for fun, relaxation and connection, but I can’t help but feel that the idea of work-life balance just isn’t helpful.

What do you see when you switch on your computer at the start of the day?

If you’re greeted by a desktop that’s full of random files and shortcuts to folders and apps, how does that make you feel?

A few weeks ago I wrote about self-awareness, the magic ingredient for success. I strongly believe that the better you know yourself, the easier you’ll find it to get stuff done.

There are so many productivity ‘solutions’ out there, it’s very easy to become overwhelmed or confused. To try too many new things at once and then give up because it’s not working quickly enough.