Sometimes, you just have to kill your to-do list.

Twenty-three things were on my to-do list, and when I estimated the time it would take to complete them, I came up with one answer…

‘Screw that, that is it too much of my time, and I am not willing to spend my time on this stuff.’

(I may have used some more colourful language than what I illustrated above, but you get the idea)

I needed to cull my to-do list.

Simon Sinek talked about the ‘Why?’ When he landed his most famous and most-watched Ted talk – my Why? is as follows, I don’t want to waste my precious time on things that do not rock my boat.

I have about 12,500 days left on this earth, and as far as I am concerned, every day counts. So I am not spending my time doing stupid things that I am crystal clear about, things I do not need to do.

So step one was to go through my list and clear out the stuff that I felt I did not need to do.

Boom, I am down to eighteen items on my to-do list.

I also know that I want to positively impact things by using the time wisely and getting a good return on my time investments.

So I asked the question, will this item on my to-do list make a significant impact, and will I get a decent return on my investment? 

Nope, not a big enough payday!!

Boom, I am down to thirteen things to do in the list now as I booted some items out because they were not significant enough.

Next question up. How do I ‘bite the bullet’ and clear some shit now while I have the energy. What can I clear out right now with some focus?

Boom, I am down to seven things after a focused hour of work that had one singular locus – to get stuff done.

Of the seven things left, five were must do’s and were a mix of the day job and my own personal commitments. Take your time to clear this list.

This is the stuff I want to do and that I drop-dead must do. This is the stuff I got to do, the not up for negotiation stuff. These are the keepers.

Ok, they stay.

The other two items were kicked into touch because I asked myself if I had the energy for these things?

My answer – Nah, I lack passion for this project, so they were deleted without a blink of an eye.

I can now go into my day with a much clearer head and a handful of key things to get done. The things that I have the passion for. This will allow me to start the day like a rocket. To start my day with a clear runway.

However!!

My guess will be that people will try to get their points of action onto my to-do list, so what I will need to do is defend my list.

I will need to be like a mother defending their young by ferociously protective of my list and of my time. This is where the battle for time is lost and won.

Time is all we have, and you should count it out regularly.

Put that on your monthly to-do list. 

How many days do I have left, and am I making the most of it?

Why not?

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