Do you have a NOT To Do list? Here's how to create one and why it's just as important as a to-do list at helping you advance your business, career and sanity.
Video Transcript:
Good morning everyone! Happy Friday.
Fridays are when I like to look at my to do list and plan out for the week ahead. And, I thought it would be a good chance to talk to you about a Not To Do List, because it's equally as important in your life to help you reach your goals.
So, you probably don't have a Not To Do List, since I don't think most people do. I LOVE a list. It's so satisfying crossing something off and getting through your accomplishments and focus areas.
A Not To Do List, just like it sounds, is a list of things that are not serving you well in life. And it's a way to address those things and find out different solutions for them so you can free up more time on the things that do matter.
How you create one is making a list of the things that are not serving you well. Things that are a distraction and you're spending time on but they're preventing you from making an income, from making you feel empowered, focusing on your priority areas; maybe that's spending time with your family, serving your higher power, contributing to your bigger future. So, you list those things down.
Then, you decide if you can do one of three things: Can you automate it? Delegate it? or Can you Eliminate it? That's a way to help you chip away at that list a little bit. Even if you can just find one thing that can save you some time, great, right? That's progress for all of us.
For me, I recently re-did my Not To Do List, and I had three areas:
1) Getting into a bad habit of looking at social media before bed again so I wanted to eliminate that, and I replaced it by reading books on the Blinkist app which I love because it gives you a summarized clif notes version of books. Tons and tons of books. So, it's a great way for business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers to read up on a lot of different things.
2) Another was this whole category of household chores: cleaning, laundry and cooking. Good lord they take a lot of time, right? So, I'm not t a point where I'm going to hire somebody to come in and clean for me -- although that's definitely an option. So, instead what I'm doing is delegating to bring my kids into the mix more. Teaching them some important life skills, and it also helps me out and I get family quality time with them. They help me fold now, and we all do it together and I call it "we're having a folding party". They've caught on that it's not really a party, (haha) but that's ok. I put on some music and try to make it a little more enjoyable to fold the clean clothes together. And for cooking I'm trying to be more mindful about food prep in advance, and I recently signed my kids up for a cooking class which you can read more about from an earlier post on my instagram page. They learned how to make six breakfasts by themselves. So, just starting to get them more self-sufficient since they're at the age where they can take on more responsiblity. They still need my help, but just trying to think about how others around me can help out.
3) My third area from a business perspective is as I'm starting my consulting business here and getting things really ramped up I've run into different web issues and that's something I've been delegating. When I can't figure it out, instead of spending days and days trying to figure it out and not make progress, cause that's not serving me well. What's serving me well is being out there and being able to help all of you [content marketers], helping my clients, helping provide and teach and doing the work. So, I've been delegating and outsourcing the tech support. My website, for example, is on Wix, and they have a tech support center with lots of freelancers. I submit a job tix for an issue and they charge me a low hourly rate to fix it. Way worth it because that charge is fixing the issue and allowing me to have that time to focus on my business. I'm also part of different business groups and reach out to others in the group for help so I'm not wasting a lot of time trying to figure something out. I consider this a form of delegating.
So, that's my example.
Automate.
Delegate.
Eliminate.
Then, make a list of the things that are serving you really well. Driving your income. Driving your business. Helping you advance your career. And, then think about how you can swap and do more of the things that are serving you and less of what isn't.
Look at your whole list and circle the one thing you an take action against right away that will make a meaningful impact in your life, your business, and your career.
So, I hope that was helpful. Hope you're nailing your to do lists and your Not To Do List. Have a wonderful weekend ahead everyone and we will talk to you later. Bye bye.
About the author
Sarah Panus is a content marketing strategist, Minnesota mom, and owner of Kindred Speak, LLC, a remote consultancy that helps brands with digital content marketing, influencer marketing, and brainstorming. She’s spent 17 years helping brands including Sleep Number, Starbucks, Nestle Waters, Christos Bridal, Game Crazy, Cone Inc, etc. speak a kindred language with their audiences, driving brand advocacy and millions in revenue and brand engagements. Email Sarah at sarah@kindredspeak.com to book a free 30-minute consultation to discuss your brand storytelling questions and needs. Follow Sarah on Instagram or LinkedIn as she helps parents working in content marketing-type roles who struggle with overwhelm or confusion at work. Learn more at www.kindredspeak.com.
Photo by Emma Matthews Digital Content Production on Unsplash
