Change your focus, change your world.
Does your life feel like a never-ending to do list? Does your to do list, have to do lists?
Do you live in a sea of post-it notes?
Does it feel like you’re drowning in tasks and as soon as you finish one or two, you have 5 more to add to the list?
Do you go to bed at night thinking about all the things you didn’t yet get to, and everything you have to do the next day?
Does this even keep you up at night?
The struggle is real. I’m here to tell you you’re not alone.
But I’m also here to give you a really powerful tool that I discovered on my own the other day.
Create a “Things I Did” list.
I am a recovering perfectionist. I’ve spent much of my life measuring my self-worth by my accomplishments. I am a compulsive achiever. And yet I rarely celebrate those achievements.
I know I’m not alone, and I know it’s rare for most of us to celebrate all we’ve done. In this fast-paced digital age, there is always one more thing to do. It seems things are moving at the speed of light and we often don’t give ourselves the time and space to
pause.
In that pause, there is so much to be grateful for. We have so much to be proud of.
You have accomplished so much.
You accomplish so much every single day.
One Saturday a couple of weeks ago, I decided to try something new. I was swimming in a sea of work, and had a bunch of paper to-do lists sitting around, but I knew that I wanted to do a lot for myself, and that I needed to catch up around the house.
I had a transformative thought that changed my entire day.
I decided to focus on my accomplishments.
So I made a new list. I crossed out “to do” and wrote “I did”.
My “Things I Did” list made me feel so accomplished, so proud of myself, for all that I had completed in a single Saturday. I wrote things big and small. Doing the dishes made the list. Watering the plants made the list. My cooking made the list. My crafts and work tasks made the list.
Not all of my days will look like this. Some will have more and some will have less. Some will be focused on all the yoga classes I taught, the errands I ran. Some will be focused on the phone calls I made to catch up with friends and family.
But when I make this list, it helps me to realize that - I am accomplishing a lot. We are all accomplishing a lot. You should feel proud of all that you do, and celebrate each day.
And as an added bonus, you will gain added insight and self-awareness into how you spend your time. If you’re not sure you like what’s on the list, you have the opportunity to recognize it and then change it. For me, I’m working to change those days that I spend 2 hours exploring instagram…we all have our things!
What are you proud of accomplishing today?
P.S. You’re awesome.