You Can Do It All: How To Manage Stress And To Do Lists

How many times do we tell ourselves we simply don’t have enough time? Just not enough hours in the day, days in the week, months in the year, etc.; you know the drill. I know this is how many of us feel on a daily basis, and this leads to loads and loads of stress. It feels unending; it zaps all of our joy and our sense of ease about life. Can we do it all? I think so, but it requires a willingness to change your perspective on your to-do list mentality. This week I’m going to share with you how I manage to keep my cool, while staying productive and getting stuff done.

Start your day off right: I believe how you start your day sets the tone for the entire day. Many of us leap out of bed, rush to get dressed, eat breakfast on the go, and do our makeup in the car, all while still arriving five minutes late to work. That sentence stressed me out just writing it. What if there was a way to ease into the morning craziness? There is, and it’s meditation. Morning mediation is crucial for daily productivity. Meditation brings a sense of clarity, confidence, and inner peace, all before you leave the house; pretty groovy if you ask me. Many people say they don’t have time to meditate, and if that’s the case, I challenge you to just try five minutes right when you wake up; close your eyes, breathe, and be still. I promise you it will help.
Get organized. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I make a to-do list in my head, I don’t write it down, and then stress out about trying to remember everything I have to do. Why would anyone want to add more stress to their lives by doing this? Mindfully create your to-do lists so your precious brain doesn’t have to work, write it all down, and let it go. My dear friend who is a holistic life coach, Cassandra Bodzak, suggests meditate before writing your to-do lists so you are extra clear. Get centered; write down the things that actually need to get done, and release the filler activities that you think you need to do just to stay busy. You could even write the list in order of importance, so you know what is a requirement and what is slightly less urgent. Maybe even do the radical thing of crossing the last item off the list- after all you have placed it last. Imagine you may end up with a little free time!
Ditch multitasking. We live in a world where multitasking is glorified. How many things can you do at once? In all honesty, this makes you less productive. Or at the very least, it decreases the quality of your work. Try focusing on one task at a time, being diligent, mindful and present. Train your mind not to wander on to something else. Your work quality and productivity will be so much better. Try it- find one place in your life where you can do just one thing at a time and notice how you feel.
Return to Your Breath. Ever have one of those moments where you are in a state of complete overwhelm and don’t know how to fix it? Your breath is your tool for handling what comes at you. Throughout your day you may feel stressed, but it’s so important to remember that you have built-in tools to help you manage and release that stress. You always have time to close your eyes and breathe, no matter what is happening in the moment.
Notice What Zaps Your Energy: Are you doing anything throughout your day that requires energy that really isn’t worth it? For me, it can be social media. Sometimes I get way too sucked into what’s happening on the Internet that I totally forget about my daily tasks. I recently just did a social media detox and it helped my productivity immensely. Start being mindful of where you place your energy and if there are any energetic black holes that you can get rid of.

Here’s my blog on Social Media Detox: http://michellemaros.com/what-i-learn...

Take care of yourself. Perhaps the most important of all is, of course, self-care. You have to take care of yourself to do the other multitude of things you have to do in a given day. We all are pulled in multiple directions on a daily basis, but we have the ability to manage this if we are feeling well in mind, body, and spirit. Make sure you nourish your body with foods that light you up. Take care of your mind and spirit with meditation, journaling, and breathing. Get into a routine that makes you feel good from the inside, so you can go out and tackle the outside.

I hope these tips help you manage stress and feel more productive! I’d love to know how you guys do it too! Let me know in the comments below!

Love, Michelle