077: Is Your To-do List Helping You or Holding You Back?

If you want to deepen this week’s experiment, then sign up for the Dare to Prioritize Challenge, a week-long challenge that starts May 22nd. In this challenge, I help you take back your time so you can use it for what matters most.

Head on over to daretoprioritize.com to sign up
============================

"All the systems, apps and tools in the world don't matter if you don't have what matters most to you in them." ~ Elise

I love a to-do list! So much so that my wife bought me a t-shirt that says "Lists are my love language." Yep! It’s true.

I also love systems. I mean, I have a whole coaching program around building systems to support your productivity called GYST, which stands for Get Your Shit Together.

I have been a list and systems girl for a long time–I am deeply committed to them–and yet there was a time when what was on my list had everything on it except what mattered most to me. I've worked hard over the years to change this for myself, and now I'm dedicated to helping other people make this change too.

Now if you’re new here, it might be worth mentioning that the purpose of to-do lists in my world is not just to tick things off and get more stuff done. No. In my world, when we mention productivity, we are talking about making progress on what matters most to YOU. We are talking about not just getting stuff done that has to get done because you promised someone else, we are talking about looking inside yourself to say: who do I want to be in this world? What do I want to do? How do I want to spend my time on this planet?

In this episode, we use one of my clients’ experience as a case study to determine whether your to-do list is helping you or if it's holding you back, because let’s face it; all the systems, apps, and tools in the world don't matter if you don't have what matters most IN them.

Trust me, I have been a highly organized, get-it-done kind of person who was extremely lonely and unhappy in my old ways of productivity. If you can relate to my GYSTer or how I used to operate, it might be time for a productivity shift.

So, here's Your Weekly Shift...the little experiment you are going to run this week to shift your productivity:

• Look at your to-do list, your calendar, your notepad, wherever you keep track of what needs to get done and ask yourself:
• Is my most important dream or goal in there?
• If not, pick your favorite song, and brain-dump all the things you are thinking about when it comes to that dream or goal until the song ends.
• And then get all of that into whatever you are using to keep track of what you want to get done.

To show that you are running this experiment, head on over to @theproductivityshift on Instagram or Facebook and put one of your favorite songs in the comments of the weekly shift post. Give me some music to inspire me and others!

**This podcast is lovingly created by yours truly, Elise Enriquez, and produced by Rachael Sanya.