Simple Sustainability: Minimalist time management

by Sky Trombly –

Go, Go, Go, Oh No! My motivation is gone!

Chances are, if you write down all the things you have to get done, all the things you want to get done, and all the things you “should” be doing… well your hand would cramp up and your head might feel anxiously full.

If you spend time trying to organize your life you can spend all day coming up with a plan that ultimately doesn’t

work, a discovery that sadly comes the very next day.

We’re all busy people, but some of us build to-do lists that in-and-of themselves burn us out. I know I have. When we’re

left to juggle too many obligations, we’re likely to drop the ball or give up on juggling completely.

I know that I have a tendency to avoid some of the most important tasks and invent things to do that I perceive to be more fun than say, paying the bills. The result? Well, I might have cleaned the toilet while my car insurance lapsed, for an example.

If we all have so much to do and not much time to do it in, how do we organize our lives so that we have a measure of balance, simplicity, and efficacy? Or, put another way, how do we get things done without going crazy?

Do less to get more done

The problem is clutter in our mental and schedule “spaces”. We attempt to “do it all” because we haven’t taken the time to decide what is essential to us and what just comes along for the ride.

So, a part of the solution is identifying what the priorities of that day need to be. It is often recommended by life coaches to choose one thing to get done for the day. Accomplishing one important task is definitely better than burning oneself out over a longer list of unimportant tasks.

I personally make it slightly more complicated than that in order to guard the balance in my life. I have identified 4 areas of my life where I have projects and responsibilities that cannot wait: Work, Home, Parenting, and Personal. If I didn’t have these categories, I might focus too much on my work and neglect important tasks elsewhere.  I keep it simpler by focusing on just 1 item for each category, though.

So, one day my list might be something like this: Work: finish writing article; Home: pick up CSA share; Parenting: pediatric appointment for Laura ; Personal: sign up for next race.

Obviously, I cannot be very prescriptive here because we all have different lifestyles and priorities, but having these four categories and keeping my to-do list very small seems to work well for me in order to address those ever-changing tasks.

Routine maintenance

You might notice that this method leaves out a very important aspect of time management, though. There are things that need to be done on a regular basis (typically daily or weekly). If you focus exclusively on these, then you’ll feel like you’re on a hamster wheel not really accomplishing anything. If you neglect these sorts of tasks, then you’ll have no dishes to eat from, no clothes to wear, your fitness may suffer, and so on.

Enter The Slight Edge (by Jeff Olson) philosophy. (A life-changing book, by the way, that I highly recommend reading.)

These are those small tasks that are “easy to do and yet easy not to do”. If done repeatedly, these small actions lead to major results. However, trying to keep track of all of these mentally can become debilitating. So, instead, I consider what has potential to give me a good return on my investments and work to make it into a habit that I no longer have to monitor. It is an ongoing process of course correction, based on past results.

You could work on 1 habit for 30 days, which is a popular practice in self-development circles.

I tend to work on a few at a time. That is my jam. This month, for example, I am trying to read for 1 hour every day, this isn’t too challenging for me, but it is challenging to stick to just one book. I tend to over-complicate my life and try to get a few books going at the same time. I tend to end up not finishing any of the books because I have too many going. Sound familiar? This problem finds its expression in a multitude of ways in my life!

Recap:

* Our productivity can suffer when we are trying to get too much going at once. It is also mentally, emotionally, even physically stressful and definitely demotivating.

* In order counter this, it is useful to consider the balance of your obligations in life (such as your work, your home, your family, and your personal obligations) and stick to 1 important or urgent task in each category to do for the day.

* There are repetitive tasks that we still need to do each day, such as our dishes.

* Rather than spending mental space thinking about our repetitive habits on a daily basis, it is best to focus on tweaking our habits to bring us the best return on our investments. A 30 day challenge might be enough to evaluate whether a new or updated habit serves us and puts it on auto-pilot so that the change is no longer a stressor in our life. (Change is stressful, even when it is a good change.)

* If we combine these two approaches and apply them to how we accomplish our to-do lists, the result should be more balance, less stress, and more productivity.

What do you think? Willing to test this theory out by giving it a try? Let me know what works for you – or not.

Something of a sustainability nerd for most of her life. Her goal is to empower herself and others to live in a way that is congruent with personal values – and intimately linked to the Earth.  You can join her in her wanderings through the quagmire of sustainable living in every issue of Owl Light News, and on her blog  – talkwalking.org