My “To-Do List” Makeover
How does a blog about To Do lists have anything to do with eating healthy?
Time management has such a huge impact on weight control. How to fit meal planning in. When to get to the grocery store. Oh yeah, cooking when there’s no time. Stress and busy lifestyles also lead to eating from anxiety…eating convenience foods…or not eating at all.
Time management has everything to do with eating healthy. Many times I feel like a Life Coach as much a Food Coach :-)
I recently changed how I make my To Do list…and I have to share it with you. My stress and anxiety level has been seriously, seriously improved. You can ask Mr W. {The man who is always asking me if I really need to get that much done today.}
So what did I do?
If you have a Mac computer like me, you have a REMINDERS application on your computer. If you don’t have a Mac, you likely have a similar feature. It’s fairly simple. Just an ap that allows you to put to-do items on your computer.
Notice in the picture above, there is a column on the left hand side with all the different lists you have opened.
I used to have lists for any little thing. Recipe ideas. Blog ideas. Travel ideas. Phone calls to make- business or personal. It was too messy. I had to remember to flip all around to the different list, which meant it would be days even weeks before I looked back over some.
Even more than messy and annoying…it was affecting me emotionally. I didn’t like to look at other lists because I didn’t feel I had time for them…which led to feeling guilty. Especially when I didn’t have time to call someone I put on the call list weeks ago. Or I never listened to that podcast someone recommended months ago. I felt bad. Inadequate even. I didn’t manage all these different pieces of life very well.
Somehow I naturally started naming my to-do lists by days. Then I would put everything that was running through my mind Sunday night on Monday’s to do list. Anything that popped in my head went on to Monday. On Monday morning, I would go through the list and decide what I could actually get done today. What needed to get done today. I would move something to a new list and name it Wednesday because it didn’t really need to happen today or tomorrow.
By naming each list Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday I was able to actually manage my time and my to do list. I have felt more in control. More peaceful. More like I am leaving time to enjoy life instead of rushing around like a mad woman to get everything done. Even better, I can drag and drop items from one day to the next without re-typing (or re-writing for that matter).
Once again, how does this affect eating healthy? Last I checked, making a meal plan for the week, a grocery list and a trip to the grocery store doesn’t happen on the fly. It’s something that must be on the to do list. Grocery shopping = less eating out. Less eating out = eating at home. Eating at home equals = control on what’s going in the pan and better food choices.
If you don’t have a good system for organizing your to-do list, or you feel you are trying to squeeze too much into the day, I challenge you to make a new system. Ask yourself what must get done today and be very honest. If it can wait, make it wait. But do leave some time for a good phone call with a friend :)
