Second Cup: One task per weekend

How to make progress and not get overwhelmed

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to assign yourself one task beyond life maintenance
each weekend. When you assign yourself one task, it's more

(00:28):
likely to happen, and then you can move on to
something else. I am sure you, like many of us,
have all kinds of ongoing personal projects. You want to
get curtains for the guest room. You want to clean
out a space in the garage for a work bitch.

(00:49):
You want to empty out those boxes that have been
sitting in the living room for a year after your move,
and find the floor of the laundry room under the
pile of sheets you are not sure if you want
to save or not. Okay, that last one is me.
Often these lists of personal tasks wind up quite long.

(01:12):
You tell yourself you will get to them on the weekend,
but then the weekend has its usual amount of kid
stuff and basic life maintenance like groceries and laundry. Plus
you want to relax. All the tasks you could do
seem overwhelming, and you either feel like you spend all

(01:35):
your time doing them but aren't sure what you've accomplished,
or you do nothing. Why bother? It just feels like
too much. But there is another approach. Assign yourself one
task beyond life maintenance per weekend. So yes, you do

(01:58):
the laundry and get your groceries and anything else you
do to make regular functioning possible. Then pull one task
from your long list and focus on that, just one.
Figure out roughly how long it will take and when
you can do it. If all that is uncertain, decide

(02:22):
on a certain quantity of time, as in I will
spend two hours dealing with the boxes in the living room,
Then do it. You might be surprised at what you
can get through when you put all your energy into
one thing instead of spreading it around six different projects. Plus,

(02:47):
you will feel less guilty. You know that this weekend
you do the living room boxes, you do not need
to worry about anything else. Next week you can do
the laundry room, or clean out space in the garage
or something along those lines. There is a time to

(03:07):
do those things. Now is not that time? And guess
what you will start to make it through your list.
I am happy to report that a few weekends ago
I emptied out four boxes in the living room. Then
the next weekend I tackled the laundry room. Next weekend

(03:30):
I will do the one big box in the foyer
with all the stuff that seems to resist classification. Bit
by bit, it all gets done and I don't feel
so overwhelmed. So maybe think about this for your weekend
task list too. If you divvy up projects with someone

(03:53):
else in your household, maybe each of you can take
one assignment for the weekend. This could be mutually agreed upon,
so there are no bad feelings. Why isn't So and
so hanging those pictures well, because this is the weekend
for taking those bins of old toys to the donation center.

(04:16):
Next weekend is picture hanging weekend. It is all good.
In the meantime, This is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our times. Hey, everybody,

(04:39):
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at before Breakfast Pod
that's b the number four then breakfast Pod. You can
also shoot me an email at before Breakfast Podcasts at iHeartMedia.

(05:00):
That before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.
Thanks so much. Should I look forward to staying in touch.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

(05:20):
you listen to your favorite shows.