Covid has taught us all a lot. As the world collectively stalled, so did our sense of productivity and progress. Turns out, there’s nothing like a global pandemic to make you feel stuck physically, and emotionally, in our mental cave to wait out (and keep out of the way) of the passing storms.

But as we move eagerly past the worst, we are finally beginning to regain our sense of optimism and momentum. Looking back at almost two years of forced pause and self-reflection, how do you pull yourself out of that dark cave of Covid, and decide what’s important to pursue among all the mental clutter? If you’ve ever found yourself a bit lost in the shuffle, there’s no better time to reevaluate and reset than now. Read on for some actionable tips on how to get your life together and make space for the important stuff.

Like most people, I have more things on my plate than I can immediately see to, defaulting to the “I’ll get to that when…” loop of perpetual distraction and procrastination. So lately, I’ve been doing a lot of research on productivity, with a focus on creative types and entrepreneurs. Specifically, how to actually do all the cool creative side projects that I put off because #life.

So, after binge watching @muchelleb, a productivity YouTuber (yes this is how I happily spend my free time), I took her advice and recently picked up David Allen’s Getting Things Done (which you can pick up here), with the goal of getting my shit together, once and for all.

BUT YOU’RE THINKING:

“I already have a To-Do List”

Before we begin, let’s clear some things up. There’s a difference between today’s to-do list and a game plan for big life goals.

Your To-Do-list might be exactly the problem. Why? Because the daily “do’s” that bog up your mind today are NOT the same “do’s” that are going to help you achieve a BIG goals you’ve put on the back-burner. I should know - I wrote the story to a children’s book on one fateful subway ride almost 2 years ago and have procrastinated actually illustrating it ever since. It’s borderline self-sabotage. Only now am I finally taking a dose of my own medicine and putting a plan in place.

Any goal requires the uninterrupted mental space and time to “get in the zone”, plan, and pursue it. But that goal moves further away with every new distraction. So it’s NOT about chasing your insurmountable to-do list, but minimizing it.

WHERE DO I START?

Do a Brain Dump.

What’s a brain dump? It’s a method used by productivity experts to free your mind from the burden of everything that is occupying precious brain space as a potential action item.

Often, we are so overwhelmed with our own to-do’s that it manifests into paralysis rather than action. Anxiety happens when we feel overwhelmed and out of control. Action happens when we know what needs to get done, when we’re going to do it, and how. 

Step 1 is getting it all out of your brain. (In fact, it might take longer than you think. In an interview about his coaching sessions, David Allen said it takes his clients anywhere from 1-6 hours to write down everything circling around in their heads.)

This cathartic free-for-all of everything controlling your mind could span anything from “bath the dog” to “I should probably get my finances in order” to “consider living abroad?”. The best way to get your shit together (“GYST” - the internet calls it) is to get it out of your brain first. I call mine a “GYST LIST” because I can’t resist a rhyme, but you do you.

Okay, now that we know what it is, here’s how to do it.

STEP 1:

Use The Trigger List

When most people make to-do lists, they free associate. That’s not inherently wrong, but that tends to leave a list of only the most recent nagging tasks, not necessarily the most important, leaving you with that familiar hamster wheel feeling.

Instead, the Trigger List helps you remember, and capture, all of those nagging thoughts. You can find David Allen’s original list here but because I’m a design freak, I’ve re-designed his list to be prettier, below.

Now go get a notebook and pen and start writing down everything that comes to mind when you see the words in each category. (You can use a laptop if that’s easier for you - I do mine in Google Docs so I can access it from anywhere).

Some of the list will prompt you to remember the mundane, but necessary. For example, “pets” might cue annoying but equally necessary tasks like:

• put dog food on auto-delivery

• Figure out the least gross/annoying way to brush dogs teeth, maybe chicken flavored toothpaste?

But some of the list will also make you question other, bigger, areas of your life. These are the areas where your future goals are buried, even if you’re not yet aware of them. For example:

• Personal Development - Is this something you’ve been meaning to look into? This doesn’t have to be grand - it could be as simple as “consider joining a book club”. Or maybe you do want to dive deeper and learn a new skill because it’s just fun, or because you’re considering changing careers but don’t know where to start, or maybe you simply want to try pottery on the weekend.

• Finances - Is there something you are trying to achieve financially? Maybe you have been meaning to build better financial habits, or you’d like to save for a big trip or a house, or even to quit your job for a year and travel the world? Or finally, get out of debt? All ripe territory for goal setting.

• Projects that need to be started - These don’t necessarily have to be physical, but they can be. Have you been meaning to declutter? update your website? redo your resume? paint the bedroom? start a blog? These little projects can become something bigger in the long term (i.e. updating your website can attract more clients which can help you go freelance).

It also helps to look around your physical location for triggers. Look at your phone, do you need to call or email anyone? Is there a pile of laundry that needs your attention? Without boring you further, I’ll tell you my list ended up being 3 pages long.

P.S. As you are making your list, resist the urge to actually do the thing. Just write it down for now.

STEP 2:

Clarify what’s important with these 3 questions.

Does it need to be done at all? 

Not everything that is a trigger needs to turn into an action. Simply by getting it out on paper you can decide you’d rather not lend out mental real estate to things like whether or not you should repaint the bathroom or commit to that freelance gig you don’t really want to do. Just let it go.

Does it need to be done today? 

One of my things on my current list is buying flights for a trip way in the future. It’s on my mind, but I certainly don’t need to do that immediately. Simply by writing it down to revisit in a month or 2, I’ve cleared having to remember that task. If I want to be super proactive about it, I can set a reminder in my calendar for when I do need to book, and free my mind for what does need to get done today, like writing this article. 

Does it need to be done by me (and me alone)?

Ah, my favorite question. Remember, every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else. If there’s always a few nagging things keeping you from your goals, try to outsource what you can. Learn to delegate some things so you can fully commit to others.

For example:

• “Do the laundry” becomes “Schedule laundry pickup via. Insert Favorite Laundry App” (I recommend Cleanly)

• “Make Sunday dinner” becomes “Get your family involved in Sunday Night Meal Prep” (i.e. “Teach a man to fish!”)

• “Declutter the closet” becomes “invite a friend over for a bottle of wine and a decluttering session” (not necessarily delegating, but making it go faster, and way more fun!)

Delegate small tasks so you can commit to big goals.

Step 3.

Bucket Your List into Goal-Oriented Actions

Now it’s time to breathe, organize, and break it down into buckets: quick wins, administrative life tasks, and goal-oriented tasks

The administrative life tasks are the mortal enemy of your goals because they rob you of your time and energy and muddle your priorities, but they are still necessary to the functioning of everyday life.

For those nagging tasks, set aside an idle Sunday to deal with them so you can manage your energy better.

Bucket 1: Quick Wins. (< 2 minutes)

In his book “Getting Things Done”, David Allen talks about a two minute rule: “everything that can be finished in less than two minutes should be done immediately.” Nothing kick starts your feeling of being productive than knocking off 5 things in 5 minutes before moving onto the big stuff. For example:

• Put away coat pile in foyer

• Answer volunteering email

• Order door putty on Amazon to seal balcony draft for the winter.

Bucket 2: Administrative Life Stuff (> 2 minutes)

This is everything that takes longer than 2 minutes but isn’t a goal, and for most people, this is the longest bucket (especially if you have kids!) The way to deal with this stuff so it doesn’t completely overwhelm you is to timeblock a few hours on a Sunday morning to knock these out in one go. Honestly, it’s pretty freeing! I refer to these as “Life Admin Days”, originally coined by @muchelleb (and the inspiration for this article!). Here is an example of the types of things in my Life Admin Day:

• Return Amazon package

• Find a tax guy

• Research pet insurance

• Renew Global Entry

• Book a dentist appointment

• Submit work expenses

Bucket 3: Goal-Oriented Tasks (The MOST important!)

These will inevitably be different for everyone since people’s goals vary, but it’s very important to keep these a priority and block off time in your schedule to dedicate only to them (and NOT administrative tasks). Don’t let the little things get in the way of your goals. This is what it looks like for me:

MY CREATIVE GOALS:

• Finish this article!

• Actually publish the children’s book I wrote.

• Collaborate on watercolor work with dream brands.

• Get our apartment design featured in my favorite interior design blogs.

• Long term maybe goal: Consider writing a book? (feel free to include goals you’re not sure about yet!)

You can have multiple categories of goals (in fact most people do!), like these:

• FINANCIAL GOALS: Become better at managing my finances, build an emergency fund, pay off loans, etc.

• HEALTH GOALS: Finish 12 week BBG program, Meal prep every Sunday, Make the bed every day, Read 20 pages a day.

• LEARNING GOALS: Finish 1 Masterclass, attend cooking class, attend NYC interior design panel, etc.

step 4.

Write down the first 3 action steps towards your goals.

Ideally, you should do this for all the big things you want to do. This is where prioritizing comes in. Want to plan a solo trip to Japan? Learn ceramics? Get a degree? Break down the steps. If you don’t know where to start, then you’re in need of more information about your goal, so step 1 would be: “research how to do insert-goal-here”!

In my case, how do I go from “Write a Children's Book” to a published children’s book? Here is my personal approach to breaking it down. Since I already have the book written, next, I have to do the following.

Yes, this list is very long, but with every step I can actually see it coming together. Plus, breaking it down into small achievable goals means I don’t have to freak out about Step 22. All I have to do is tackle step 1. This can be applied for any goal, big or small.

Step 4.

Timeblock & Get It Done.

It’s not enough to simply think about next steps, you actually have to set time aside to do them. Treat every step to your goal like an appointment with yourself that you cannot miss.

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Vincent Van Gogh. He said: “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Especially in our Instagram era of the highlight reel, it seems like people achieve success overnight and seemingly by accident, but that is seldom the reality. To get a project off the ground requires more than a dream, it requires a plan, which requires time and a series of very finite and actionable steps.