4 Steps to Spring Clean Your To Do List
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What comes to mind when you think about spring cleaning? For most of you it is cleaning the house and yard for the bright fresh air of spring.
4 Steps To Spring Clean Your To-Do List
It’s spring, time to spring clean. What comes to mind when you think about spring cleaning? For most of you, it is cleaning the house and yard for the bright fresh air of spring. Have you ever considered cleaning your “To Do List”? I personally do not like to look at a long list of To-Do items as it overwhelms me and I can easily get distracted, so I tend to review and clean my list a few times a year. Others don’t mind a long master list, but when it becomes too long, things get dropped or forgotten about. So with spring in the air (at least we hope soon here in California), here are four simple steps to clean your to do list.
Step 1 – The Brain Dump
This is exactly what it sounds like. Gather all your lists of things to do in one place. It can be in a spreadsheet, on a piece of paper, on a bunch of sticky notes, or in a journal. Look back at your calendar to see if there are any reminders of things you did last year that need to be done again this year. Walk around the house or your office to see what may pop into your mind. This a great time to capture all things that you want, desire, or wish to get done. Write down anything and everything. Nothing is off-limits.
Step 2 – The Sort
Sort the list. Keep everything on your list but place the items into one of four categories. I like to divide the list into what or who benefits from the completion of the task.
- Self – Things on the list that are just for you. This includes everything from going to the dentist, spending time with friends, and getting exercise. If the action task benefits you, place it on this list.
- Family – Items related to your family and caring for each person. This can be anything from shopping for new clothes, signing up for dance class, to date night with your spouse.
- House – There is always something to do with the “things” in your house. Don’t forget to include cars and the yard.
- Work – If you work from home, keep those items separate.
Step 3 – The Scrub
By now the list may be a bit overwhelming. In this step, I review each item and determine how realistic is it to complete in the next 3 to 6 months. If the answer is now, then I either put the item on my wish list, or divide the item into something I can finish and add the remaining part to the wish list. For example, if purchasing a new car is on the list, you might divide that into three tasks, determining what type of car, obtaining a car loan, and buying the car. The first two might stay on the list and the third one may be on the wish list later.
Step 4 – The Polish
Now to put first things first. Sort the list so that the things most important to you are at the top Especially the Self list. If the Self list is empty or very small, then perhaps a rebalancing of the list is needed. For example, a friend of mine loves to garden. It is what I call her happy place, however, she had gardening listed in the House category. As we discussed her list, she realized that gardening “gives her joy”, so she moved it over to the Self list.
With your newly polished Master To Do List, start following whatever process you use to plan your day, week, and month. Feel free to peek at your wish list periodically but keep the focus on the main list. The master list will change over time as life is always changing, however, your master list will remind you of what matter most. Don’t be afraid to change the master list. Instead, use the master list as a guide and adjust your roadmap as life unfolds.
Enjoy spring cleaning your list. Join my VIP Facebook Group to learn more time management tips and to share what you learn. Need help organizing your Spring Cleaning shop for cleaning Tula XII Inserts here