This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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How do you prioritize tasks and to-do items without getting overwhelmed, without getting burned out? Especially when you're balancing a side hustle with a full-time job and then your to-do list keeps growing faster than you can cross things up. Today's question comes from a nurse and side hustler who's feeling stuck in a cycle of procrastination and overwhelm. I've been there, in fact, I was there last week, but hey, it's okay, we just gotta keep moving forward. In this episode, we're gonna explore neurodivergent-friendly strategies to tackle an overwhelming to-do list.
And we're gonna focus specifically on working with your energy. I think that is so much more important than trying to manage time. Let's prioritize what matters most, let's break some tasks into manageable steps and let's make some steady progress. That's our goal today, to leave you better off than you were coming in. Today's question comes from Clara.
I'll bring you that question and my answer in just 30 seconds. [Music]
Hey everyone, this is Clara. I'm a full-time nurse with a side hustle selling handmade candles online. My biggest struggle is managing my time. I always have too many items on my to-do list and certain tasks keep getting pushed to the next day.
And the next. I feel like I'm stuck in a loop of procrastination, but I don't know how to break it. How can I prioritize what really matters and stop carrying over the same tasks day after day? [Music]
So I've done a lot of work in this area in recent years because I was frustrated with a lot of traditional time management advice, time management, productivity, habits. There's this whole industry that kind of gives the same advice over and over again.
I think it actually leads to people getting stuck in these loops of procrastination that Clara talks about because ultimately it's impossible to manage your time. Time just passes by. What you can do instead is manage your energy. And so I think the whole key is to think about how can you manage your limited energy? You can only do a certain number of things.
So it's not like you look at all the things that have to be done and then ask yourself, how can I fit them all in? It's much more, here is the limited capacity that I have. I do have this certain amount of time. I do have this amount of energy and ability to give attention to detail, how am I going to spend it? Not the other way around.
So when you approach it like that, then a strategy that's helpful is time blocking. This can work for almost anyone. It really helps those of us who are neurodivergent or have ADHD or struggle with kind of staying on task. What you do is you think of time as a container. And you say, I have a container of time from 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m.
And this is for my creative work. I have a container of time for administrative work. That could be 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., whatever the case may be. You could categorize tasks and projects however you like.
But when you do this, then it kind of ensures that you're going to work on the priorities that you have identified. The problem with simply prioritizing is that you may have too many priorities. You may look and say, I need to do this and this and this, and it's all important, and I just end up getting really stressed. In fact, I wrote a book about this. It's called "Time Anxiety." It comes out in one month.
So use time boxing, group your tasks into flexible time containers. That is helpful. And then I mentioned energy. Tackle your tasks based on your energy levels. So on a low energy day, start with the easiest or quickest task.
This again is contrary into what you often hear. You hear like, eat the frog, start with the most difficult task. Well, it doesn't always work. It doesn't work well for everyone. It doesn't work well all the time.
Sometimes it's better to complete even a small thing. It can help you shift your mindset and help you get going. And lastly, as much as you can externalize your reminders and tools, that's gonna help you. So some apps like Todoist, TickTick, I used one called OmniFocus, tools that allow you to just kind of capture all your stuff as much as possible. It helps you break it into small manageable items.
You still don't solve the problem of having too much to do, but it can make it much easier than trying to keep up with things in your head. You also get to see progress visually, which can in turn be motivating. Most important thing is to create a system that works for you. There is no perfect system. There is no perfect system for everyone, for sure.
And most likely you're gonna have to adjust your system as you go. Most of all, remember to take care of yourself in this process. It's not just about doing more, it's about doing things better. That's what I think we need more attention on in the world of productivity and time management. Listeners, let me know what you think, what you do, what is effective for you.
If you have a question or a comment, sidehustleschool.com/questions. By the way, this is episode 2,999. Isn't that amazing? That's pretty crazy. Tomorrow is episode 3,000, and then of course we're gonna keep rolling along.
Thank you for being out there. The podcast is always free, wherever you'd like to listen. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Side Hustle School." [Music]
From the Onward Project.
