Brain research shows that when you complete a task on your to do list AND take a second to actually cross it off... your brain releases endorphins into your blood stream... thus you experience a physical and psychological high or lift.
So why not ride the endorphin rush right now? Here's how:
1. Create a list of all that you need/want to do today. 2. Prioritize the list by asking yourself, "If I could only do one of these items today, which one would it be?" 3. Place the number 1 next to that item... and then re-ask the question about the remaining items on your list. 4. Once you have everything on your list prioritized... start at #1 and work at it until you complete it. 5. Once you complete #1, take a second to cross it off your list... sit back... and ride the endorphin rush.
Or—If the above doesn't work—you can go to Starbucks and drink a 16 shot Americano... that ought to do it.
But whatever you do, don't cross anything off your to do list AND drink a 16 shot Americano... I just can't be held responsible for what that might do to you!
Tired of letting life live you while your priorities sit quietly neglected in the back seat of your life? Well, if you're REALLY ready to do something about it... this blog's for you!
To make sure your life's priorities end up in your daily, weekly, and monthly routine, you will need to start by investing time in planning. Why is planning so critically important? When you take time to proactively plan your priorities into your schedules you are engaging in one of the highest returns you can get from time. As corporate consultant Brian Tracy puts it,
“You save ten minutes in execution for every minute you invest in planning. This means that the very act of planning—thinking on paper before you begin—gives you a 1000 percent return on energy. This is one of the highest returns you can get from anything you do in life.”
If you are serious about getting your priorities out of the back seat of your life, then you must proactively plan your priorities into your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly schedule. Planning takes time... but the return on your investment in planning is worth the time spent planning.
If you don't take time to plan, you will more than likely arrive at the end of life wondering why life lived you. Is that what you really want?
Okay... so my wife was cleaning the house the other day and came accross this to-do list written by our eight-year-old daughter, Libby.
What do you think: Are we training her to manage her life and time well--or are we passing down our neurotic tendencies?
BEFORE YOU LEAVE A COMMENT: It's important that you see what our eight-year-old actually wrote on her to-do list--so if you have trouble reading this to-do list, double click the picture.
Knowing what to STOP doing is just as important as knowing what you must be doing.
As I was reading the Bible this morning, I read where Jesus said, "I have not come to...." and then he explains exactly what he would not do with his time... and then reaffirmed what he would do with his time. (For the complete context, read Mark 2:13-17.)
Jesus got me thinking today. What is my "NOT-To-Do List"? If I can get my NOT to-do list clear--it wil certainly help me create a clear and properly prioritized to-do list.
Think about it.
If you figure out what you should be doing for this season of your life, but you don't stop doing less important things already in your life... you won't have time to do that which is most important.
This is the law of posteriorities: In order to take on some new activity you must first get rid of an old one. For no one has a limitless capacity to keep adding activities to life without pitching something.
Hence, the law of posteriorities accentuates our need to create a clear Not To-Do List
Click the comment link below and share with us your short NOT To-Do List.
Under an old brass paper weight, is my list of things to do today go to the bank and the hardware store, put a new lock on the cellar door I cross em off as I get em done, but when the sun is set there's still more than a few things left I haven't got to yet.
Go for a walk, say a little prayer, take a deep breath of mountain air, put on my glove,and play some catch, it's time that I make time for that. Wade the shore, cast a line, look up an old lost friend of mine sit on the porch, and give my girl a kiss, Start living, that's the next thing on my list.
Wouldn't change the course of fate, but cutting the grass just had to wait, cause I got more important things, like pushing my kid on a backyard swing I won't break my back for a million bucks I can't take to my grave, so why put off for tomorrow what I could get done today.
Like go for a walk, say a little prayer, take a deep breath of mountain air, put on my glove, and play some catch, it's time that I make time for that wade the shore, cast a line, look up an old lost friend of mine sit on the porch, and give my girl a kiss, Start living, that's the next thing on my list.
Raise a little H***, laugh till it hurts, put an extra five in the plate at church, Call up my folks just to chat, it's time that I make time for that. Stay up late and oversleep, show her what she means to me, catch up on all the things I've always missed, Start living, that's the next thing on my list.
Under an old brass paper weight is my list of things to do today.
Two women met for the first time since graduating from high school. One asked the other, "You were always so organized in school. Did you manage to live a well-planned life? "
"Yes," said her friend. "My first marriage was to a millionaire; my second marriage was to an actor; my third marriage was to a preacher; and now I'm married to an undertaker."
Her friend asked, "What do those marriages have to do with a well-planned life?"
"One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go."
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