A New Approach to My To-Do List

The previous three weeks had been a blur of activity. I was pushing myself harder than I had ever pushed myself before. The deadlines were flying by, and I was barely making them. I was up at 4am to get a meditation and a bit of yoga in before I started work at 5am, and then I barely looked up until 5pm that evening. I spent the last few hours of the day with my hubby and son, made my list of “to-do’s” for the next day, and then passed out.

It’s okay, Amanda. Hang in there. It’s not forever. This is the hard but necessary step to position the business for growth. Without the team, the systems, and the support, you will limit your ability to serve your current and future authors. They’ve been telling you this day would come. This is it! You’re here. It’s a good thing. Push through the exhaustion. The systems you’re creating are going to free up your time and energy, and enable you to do more of what you love in the business and with your family. Push through the doubts and fears.  You’ve got what you need. Go. Go. Go.

This had been my mantra for the previous three weeks, and I knew I could expect to use it for the rest of the year. By December, everything would be in place for an awesome 2012!

Then my calendar alarm beeped at me, “Oh crap! I forgot to prep my update form for my coaching call this afternoon. I don’t have time for the call, let alone all of the prep work for it. Ugh…” I went to the site and answered everything as quickly as I could so I could get back to meeting the next deadline.

That evening, as I took a few deep breaths before the coaching call, I started to feel nervous. There’s still so much to do.

“Hello, this is Amanda.”

“Hi, Amanda. How are you?”

“Well, I’m a little tired, but I guess that’s to be expected.” I knew the coach could hear my smile.

Chuckle. “Yeah, well, I looked through what you sent me this morning and…”

There was a pause, and my heart started to sink. Uh-oh, what did I do wrong?

“Did you look at this list you made?”

I quickly pulled it up on my computer and read through it, looking for the problem.

“Yes, I think I put everything in there. Is there a problem?”

“No, Amanda. I just want to make sure that you are acknowledging what you’re doing. You’ve moved to another level since we talked.”

Relief washed over me. “Well, yeah. I’m doing a lot, but…”

“No, Amanda. Listen to what I’m saying…Do you see what you have accomplished in the last three weeks? Do you keep a running To-Do List?”

“No, I create a new To-Do List every day, pulling anything that’s leftover from the previous day.”

“Did you throw those old ones away?”

“Well, yes. I didn’t have any use for them.”

“Hmmm…” The coach decided to leave me hanging on that one, and we went through the rest of the call, working on the areas where I had questions.

But when I hung up the phone, I was stuck on that first question: Did you throw those old ones away?

I looked back through the list and smiled, Oh. Oh yeah. Now I get it.

The point was that instead of tracking and celebrating everything I was achieving in a day, I was moving my “still to-do’s” over to another list and throwing the other away.

I’m not sure how long I sat there in my office, overwhelmed with the impact of my answer to that question.

I started to take inventory of all of the major and minor accomplishments of 2011 – in my business but also in my family. This was a year full of firsts, and I’m going to share them here NOT to brag or pat myself on the back, but to show you how easy it is to miss out on all the big and small stuff when it’s happening. All of this was happening to me, through me, and around me, yet I was barely acknowledging it.

Personally – I enjoyed a get-away with my hubby; took a family vacation; watched our son roller skate, ice skate, and horseback ride for the first time; found and transitioned our son from his first school to a new one; gave time and resources to charities; worked with personal coaches and healers to create more space for blessings; treated family members to some really sweet experiences, and…

In the Business – I shifted to Retreat-Style training; launched my first Jumpstart Your Message Retreat in April; launched my first Monetize Your Message Retreat in August; and developed a Book Production & Messenger Training Program; designed and created systems for the Transformational Book Signing event to launch my authors; invested in a huge coaching program; redesigned my website and created a mobile version; enlisted the support of assistants, designers, editors, image consultants, and coaches; collaborated as partners with many of my previous coaches in the Monetize Your Message retreat; and…

I should be putting these old lists up in my office as wallpaper, not throwing them away! Time to shift that “Go, Go, Go” to “Celebrate, Celebrate, Celebrate” for this last quarter.

And that’s exactly what I did. I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t work some long hours, putting those last pieces in place to hold the projected growth of the business next year, but I did celebrate the completion of every To-Do List and all of the other blessings that came in the last quarter, many of which you have heard about through the course of these non-newsletters.

And as I work on my plans for 2012, I do so in a state of celebration, gratitude, and excitement…

 

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