Are you that person?

How often do you say “I’ll do just one more thing?”

I used to say that daily and one more thing lead to one more and so on. Before I knew it I had added about 100 more things to my to-do list and it still wasn’t complete. And I was working way more than I had planned to. This is called the Squeeze In Syndrome. You know, like I’ll just read one more email, make one more phone call, write one more blog, do one more thing on my list even though I don’t have the time to do it. I’ll just do that one more thing anyway.

If you find yourself saying “I’ll do just one more thing” and often feel stressed out, overwhelmed and exhausted then I recommend you stop doing it right now. Essentially what you are doing is just too much and it’s not going to help you succeed.

I love this photo of the emails, because a lot of us get caught up in doing just one more email…let’s see how doing just one more thing can hurt us.

Hidden Dangers of Doing Too Much.

I live on a main street. It’s a busy street for periods of the day and lots going on. The other day we were at home relaxing when we heard a very loud crash. No screeching of the brakes to warn that something was coming, just a loud crash. Having lived here for some time, we knew what that meant. A car accident. My husband bolted out the front door to see what he could do to help and ended up helping the guy who drove his big F-150 right into a parked car (small compact car) nearly pushing it into a nearby house.

Thankfully everyone involved was physically ok. Though the young kid whose car was demolished probably wasn’t seeing it that way (side note: he said he just got the car – oh my heart breaks for him). Anyway, that aside, the driver of the truck admitted he fell asleep!

He said he’d been trying to do too much. He works as a local fire fighter and had just worked several long shifts and wanted to to spend time with his son and take his son to hockey practice when he fell asleep and ran into the parked car.

Now, I’m someone who can always empathize with others. It’s part of what makes me a great friend and coach. I so felt for each of the parties involved. The dad who was trying to do too much, work to provide for his family, be a good dad, take time to be with his son and the young kid that now has a totaled car because someone was trying to do too much that he ended up exhausted.

It’s time to stop.

This outside view gave me a big pause to think. I don’t usually fall asleep at the wheel as I don’t usually do a lot of driving, but I do often fall into the habit of doing one more thing that ends up sacrificing family time, self time, home time, etc.

It’s time for us as a society to stop doing too much. And to stop expecting others to do too much.

I write and coach my clients a lot about being productive and how to let things go and/or just say no so you would think I would find it easy. I know it isn’t. Yet I am committed to doing it. What about you?

How to just stop.

As you know I love to give practical steps to doing things and not just talk about doing them. Here are several steps to help you go from squeezing in things to do to actually creating a great, do-able to-do list and get things done.

• Create a master personal to-do list. Do a brain-dump and get everything out of your head in one place [see this link].
• Create a business/work to-do list. Same as the personal one, only this is just business tasks.
• Start deleting. What on that list do you think you need to do but if you looked at it objectively you could just delete it, go do that.
• Streamline your lists. What do you need to do this month, week, day.
• Schedule it in your calendar. Create time each day in your calendar for you to spend time to get your action items done, then go and do them.
• Ask for help. Whether it is help from your family or an assistant, sometimes things on your list aren’t really for you to do.

In order for you to be successful here, think about what is most important to you. Maybe your children, family, spouse, personal life. When you do one more thing that takes away from what is most important to you, how does that help you honor what is most important to you?

Hint:  It doesn’t and you end up sending the wrong message to both yourself and those you love.

Tell me what is it that is most important to you, then keep that in mind when you find yourself doing just one more thing.

I’ve been where you may be, having a hard time saying “I’m done for the day”. If you would like help here, schedule a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Strategy Session with me. You’ll get clear on your prioritized list, a clear schedule of getting things done and peace of mind about feeling ok with letting things go!

The best time to do it is now.

There is one thing I took a long time to get through my head and that was, just do it.

Yes, the Nike slogan that is as motivating as it is popular. Those three little words:

JUST DO IT.

And doing so can make such an impact to your business. I know it did to mine.

Truly, the best time to do what you want and need to do is now. As a former procrastinator, I know if can be hard to just do it. So her are a few tips to help you get going.

How to just do it.

First, what is it you need to do? Second, go do it. Easy, right? It is so you have no excuses. Comment below on what you just completed.

But…if you don’t know what it is you need to do here are your starting steps:

• Do a brain dump. Make a list of all of the things you have in your head. Just start writing, do not worry about priority or order. The goal is to get it on paper or on an electronic list.
• Classify business or personal. Go through and put a “B” or a “P” next to each item so you can easily see whether it is business or personal.
• Delete as you go. You may realize as you classify your tasks that things you wrote out you either do not want to do or do not need to do. That’s awesome, just put a line through it.
• Re-write your list. Get two pieces of paper or open a new window and mark one business and one personal and begin to write down your business tasks and your personal tasks on their own designated spots. Again, deleting as you go (yes, you will start to notice that lots of what you wrote doesn’t need to be done).
• Prioritize your lists. This is where the just do it begins. I like to use $ for tasks that will help me make money (I am in business after all) so I go through and put a dollar sign next to the actions that will bring money into my business. Then I use the 1, 2, 3 system to help me see what is next. I also estimate as best as I can how long I think something will take – will it take me 30 minutes or less, 60 minutes or 90 minutes (I like to work in those 3 time blocks).
• Schedule your tasks into your calendar. Once you know what you need to do and how long it will take you, you can easily schedule them to get done and then, you guessed it, JUST DO IT! =)

Use the motto: If not now, when?

I like to ask myself “if I am not going to do this now, when will I do it?” It gives me time to pause and to be honest, will I have time to do it and if not, perhaps it’s time to let it go.

You may gasp at that, a lot of my clients do. It’s hard to give things up, especially if we have talked ourselves into thinking we have to do it. Yet, when you do, guess what happens? You actually have more time to just do those things that will make the biggest impact to you.

So let me ask you, if not now, when?

Tell me the task that you have been putting off and what your next step for it is, is it to just do it or to let it go?

I’ve been where you may be, having a hard time just doing things and even being ok with letting things go. If you would like help here, schedule a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Strategy Session with me. You’ll walk away with a prioritized list, a clear schedule of getting things done and peace of mind about letting things go!

Have enough?

As business owners, it’s easy to have loads on our plates (er…desks). We all have enough things to do, places to go, and items to manage.

And why is it so easy to end up with our proverbial plates piled higher than we even stand? Well, lots of things and one stands out among them all…the inability to say no.

No is a single and complete sentence. Yet, so many business owners feel they have to offer more and more specifically, they have to say why they can’t or don’t want to do something.

So they end up saying yes, hence the high piles of things to do, places to go and items to manage. And no time for doing what they truly want.

How to say no.

If you found yourself saying “yup, that’s me, I just can’t say no.” Let me tell you that 1) it’s ok for no to escape your lips often and 2) no one will die if you do (not even you =).

True you might feel bad, but you’ll get over it and it gets easier. I was a serial YESer. I’d say yes to everything. I did it because I wanted people to like me and think I was helpful. Only a funny thing happened, I ended up not liking myself and I certainly wasn’t as much help as I could have been to those I said yes to because I resented saying yes.

That’s no way to be respectful of yourself or others. I discovered my reason for yes after working with my own business coach and the second I did, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I felt freer than I ever had.

How to say no easily is simple, p-r-a-c-t-i-c-e! You need to practice saying no. Here are a few for you to practice with:

• Short response: No.
• Feeling the need to say more: No, thank you.
• Wanting to expand it a bit: No, I won’t be able to help you (do that for you) with that.
• Said succinctly: No.

There is no reason for you to be sorry.

You will notice that no where in your practice material are the words I’m sorry. Because I’m sorry has no place here. We are accustomed to using “I’m sorry” as a habit. If you really, really, really want to offer a reason for your no, be honest and to the point. Here is the thing, you either DO want to say yes or you DON’T and when you don’t the respectful response is no (full sentence, end of conversation).

If you do feel sorry, why is that? What is it you feel you need to do or be for yourself to feel good about your saying no? Give some thought to that. My guess is you’ll discover what it is I discovered which for me was I wanted to be liked, ultimately that lead to a fear of not wanting to be rejected. Once I discovered that and knew that truly no one can reject me (that only happens because of how I feel), saying no became easy.

The result of saying no.

There are many benefits to saying no to things that are not for you to do, you have more time, you get more things done, you feel better, you truly enjoy what you are doing, you no longer need to complain, you no longer need to feel bad about yourself and not getting to the things that are most important to you. You get so many benefits.

What is one thing you need to say no to right now? Go and do it. And here’s a tip, you can say no even if you already said yes. It’s called “I changed my mind.” And like with no, it’s a complete sentence. and yes, in this case, you can say “I’m sorry, I changed my mind.” Because here it fits. Though you certainly do not have to say I’m sorry ever in these instances.

Give this a shot and I’d love to hear from you about how it goes, if you would like to share your experience here, post in the comment section below.

Are you having a hard time saying no? Let’s practice together, schedule a 30-minute complimentary Productive Planning For Success Strategy Session with me. You’ll walk away feeling confident about saying No without any guilt!