At work, we have a meeting every single morning, in which the entire office circles up, and we each share something that we learned the day or week before, and we each share our highest priority for the day.
We say, "Today, I will …" and insert that priority. I was told after my first day that it's not "I'll try," or "I'd like to" — it's "I WILL."
And for the first couple of weeks, my turn in the morning huddle made me feel very awkward, because I felt like the things I was learning and prioritizing were very basic compared to what everyone else — who had all been there for far longer — were learning and promising. So I was feeling panicked, and now, every day when I learn something new, I write it down immediately so I won't forget, and therefore I never panic anymore about what I'm going to say. I make sure that I have the following day's "I learned" and "I will" written down before I go home for the day, so I am never unprepared.
I realized last night that I was applying this mentality to my life, too. I keep a to-do app on my phone, filled with things that may or may not actually happen, because life. (I mean, honestly, I've had "get wills notarized" on there for over a year. I finally just removed it because it was bugging me to have to look at it everyday, but I still need to do that at some point.) But I took Elliott up to my mom's house this weekend, so that she won't run out the door and run away forever when the realtor shows the house. I told Matt that my first and biggest priority when I returned was that I wanted to vacuum the stairs, because then they likely wouldn't need a deep-clean vacuuming again.
And as I was putting the vacuum cleaner away last night, I had that WHOOOOAAAAA moment, where I realized I was applying my work life to my home life, and that I might actually really like that concept of having just one big priority you must do each day, and taking care of that first. It's easier for me to swallow tasks one at a time, instead of worrying about all the things I have to get done, so I really liked the idea of picking just one.
What's on YOUR to-do list? How did you spend your Sunday night? (Hopefully you did something more exciting than vacuuming. I'm sorry I'm so boring.)
what a great post- i love the intentional thinking that your company inspires, and i think i could definitely be more productive in home life if i took up the one big task a day mentality - so much less intimidating than the ABCDEFGH list of things to do :)
ReplyDeleteI think intention is such an important element to add to every day - sad thing is, sometimes you have to MAKE an intent to be intentional :) I agree with Jenifer below as well, having one major thing on your "I will" list is so much easier to tackle the the huge list of "to do" on my notes section of my phone. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI have a hard time being intentional, or maybe saying it out loud. Your work exercise would make me uncomfortable, but I guess that is the point. I do keep a list of things I need to do, usually for the week and for the boys. And since I'm basically the household manager, I have a system for myself that involves doing one or two major chores or tasks per day. That way, I don't feel so overwhelmed and I can relax once they are done.
ReplyDeleteI start each day with my planner and it's set up with both big goals and daily to-dos and it really helps keep me on track AND helps me limit the tendency to over to-do myself. I stick to 5 things, at most, each day as stated to-dos (and on work days it's 3 work items and 2 home/personal items), but there's extra lines for days when I'm super-productive because I can then write down the extras as a way of recognizing how much I accomplished.
ReplyDeleteThe Will vs Want To or Try language, even in self-talk, is so powerful, though. How great that your office pushes that :)
I love this! Being intentional is so important!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Having ALL THE THINGS on my to-do list makes me want to curl up in front of Friends re-runs and do none of it.
ReplyDelete"Sometimes you have to MAKE an intent to be intentional." Girrrrrl haha ain't that the truth.
ReplyDeleteMatt says the same thing, that he would be uncomfortable too. I don't know if it's an introvert vs. extrovert thing, or if it's just something that takes practice - being intentional every day. That's awesome that you've got a system down!
ReplyDeleteI find it really hard to not get bogged down in the daily to-dos, and often wind up overlooking the big goals if I'm not careful. That's a great system, to have all goals and just a couple to-dos per day written down!
ReplyDeleteAgreed! I had never considered just how important until this week either!
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