How to Deal With A Never Ending To-Do List

Hi, I’m Dr. Tiffany Shelton Mariolle, The Manifesting Psychologist and Founder of modAmbition!

How to Deal With A Never Ending To-Do List

Do you look at your to-do list and just feel stressed out?

Facing a never-ending to do list can be anxiety provoking and overwhelming. There’s a better way to approach to do lists that can leave you feeling calm and empowered.

By the end of this week’s podcast you will know how to be the boss of your to-do list, not the other way around!

As multi-passionate entrepreneur and mom, I’ve had to develop ways to tackle my to do list that make feel productive and in control. And I’m very excited to share these strategies with you!

Having an effective strategy for tackling your to do list will equip you to pursue your ambitions with peace of mind. It’s not about feeding the false narrative that our worth is dependent on our productivity.

In fact, quite the opposite. Knowing how to tackle that never ending to do list will help you feel whole as get things done that are important to you.

I’ll confess that I know first hand how it feels when you feel like you have so much do it’s almost paralyzing.

There was a time when I was starting my first business Conscious Life Shop that I just had so much on my plate that I constantly felt behind and lacking time.

That scarcity mindset was something I had to constantly check and eventually find ways to overcome. I remember one day waking up and looking at my to-do list full of things to do around the house like organizing my office, assignments for graduate school, creating content for my business website, administration tasks to register my business, and oh... don’t forget to call my grandma back! 

It was so much that I literally did nothing, and spent the day flailing with distractions because I was so overwhelmed.

While I did paint my nails and organize under my bathroom sink that day, I did nothing to actually move the needle for things that mattered to me. So this topic is particularly important to me because I know the feeling all too well.

Thankfully, eventually, I had to come up with a way to juggle all my interests and obligations, and sharing those ways was the motivation for starting this podcast.

ONE: How to Organize Your To Do List

• Create a master running to do list to brain dump
• Use a app for this so you always have access to it
• Separate your running to do list into categories for your life
• Corporate job
• My coaching business
• My product business
• Home Life
• Joy list
• Joy Scheduling should be apart of your todos
• Create a master list of things that bring you joy, peace, fun, relaxation, and energy

TWO: Best To-Do List Apps and Tools to Consider

• Trello - running to do lists
• Monday.com - collaborative to dos with my assistant
• Todoist - like Trello, but connects with other apps and more to do list centric
• Microsoft to-do - great if you work in a corporate environment this will sync really well
• Don’t sleep on analog
• 1. Physical planner
• modAmbition planner waitlist: https://mailchi.mp/modambition.com/waitlist
• What’s special about this planner is that incorporates space for a weekly todo list and notes throughout the week
• It’s also has large pages for grown women with big dreams
• 2. Stickies - I like to use them throughout the day when I don’t want to pull out my phone or it’s something that can’t wait til next week. For things I want to add to my day or as reminder to add to my planner for the next day.
• I like this because it is not as disruptive while working
• 3. Whiteboard - I like to use this with my 9-5 work because things are so fast-moving and this helps me track those things that come up throughout the day.
• I have two desks in my office. I recommend this separation of church and state esque d way of working helps to compartmentalize and focus. I highly recommend this if you have a side business or multiple businesses.
• Joy Scheduling:
• Fabulous App
• Habit Tracker App

THREE: How to Tackle Your To-Do List

• Consider your Intention and Values: What lights you up?
• You want to start from a place that is focused on what makes you feel happy and alive
• This also includes those larger goals you have for yourself so you can make sure what you are doing is going to move the needle for you.
• Can you delegate or automate what doesn’t light you up before putting on your list
• Is there a system I can utilize to make this easier
• Example = my report system
• Is there a person that is an expert in this that I can delegate to 
• Make sure you aren’t delegating what brings you joy
• Fill yourself up first, so you’re executing on a full tank
• Self-care: Drain your battery analogy
• Nutrition for energy - avoid processed foods, too much alcohol, excess sugar
• Rejuvenation
• If you are feeling overwhelmed and you don’t know where to start to get back on track I have free guide for you: Guide to Tackling Overwhelm: LINK
• Set a recurring time to make your to do list for the week in your planner
• Grab from the master list based on your priorities for that week
• Each day select your top 3 to-do’s from this week to do list
• These should be needle movers and value driven
• Joy schedule each day

For more details and to dive deeper into this topic, be sure to listen to Episode 11 of the modAmbition podcast!