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April 2, 2025 11 mins

Feeling overwhelmed by your daily tasks? In this episode, Craig Van Slyke introduces the PITA Matrix, a practical tool designed to help you identify and manage stress-inducing activities. Many of us continue with tasks that drain our energy simply because we think they're essential. Learn how to use this simple but powerful method to understand your stress sources and develop effective strategies to manage them. If you're ready to reclaim your time and energy, this episode offers valuable insights for creating a more balanced and flourishing life.

The pervasive sensation of being overwhelmed by the myriad of responsibilities that life presents is an experience shared by many, as highlighted by Craig Van Slyke in this enlightening discussion. In this episode, Van Slyke delves into the intricate dynamics of stress, particularly as it pertains to work-related obligations that often overshadow more meaningful pursuits. The discourse is anchored around a novel framework developed by the host, aptly termed the PITA Matrix, an acronym for Pain In The Anterior, which serves as a cognitive tool to identify and analyze the stressors plaguing one's daily routine. Through an exploration of personal anecdotes, Van Slyke elucidates how tasks that are perceived as burdensome can significantly drain one's energy and impede overall well-being.

The PITA Matrix presents a systematic approach to categorize tasks based on their stress-inducing potential and their significance in contributing to one's goals. By drawing a simple grid that plots tasks according to their stress levels and importance, individuals can visually map their responsibilities, thereby illuminating which activities warrant their focus and which may be delegated or discarded. Van Slyke offers concrete examples from his own professional life, illustrating how high-stress, low-importance tasks can be minimized, while emphasizing the need for balance in handling essential yet stressful responsibilities. The discussion culminates in a compelling argument for the necessity of awareness in managing one's tasks, advocating for a proactive stance toward reclaiming time and energy.

In essence, this episode serves as a clarion call for listeners to reassess their commitments and to embrace a more mindful approach to productivity, ultimately fostering a path towards a flourishing life. Van Slyke's insights are not merely theoretical; they are practical applications of wisdom aimed at enhancing mental health and promoting a more rewarding existence, resonating deeply with those seeking to navigate the complexities of modern life successfully.

Takeaways:

  • Many individuals experience a sense of overwhelming stress due to their extensive to-do lists, yet they often persist in these endeavors believing they are necessary.
  • The PITA Matrix is an innovative tool designed to assist individuals in identifying and managing stress-inducing tasks effectively.
  • By categorizing tasks based on their stress levels and importance, one can attain a clearer understanding of which activities warrant attention and which can be minimized or eliminated.
  • Implementing the PITA Matrix requires a week-long assessment of one's regular tasks to accurately gauge their associated stress levels and importance.
  • Engaging in regular stress checks prior to initiating tasks can significantly enhance one's awareness of what contributes to stress and how to manage it better.
  • Ultimately, the application of the PITA Matrix can lead to reduced stress and increased engagement with genuinely rewarding tasks, thereby enhancing one's overall flourishing.

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

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(00:00):
Feeling overwhelmed by your todo list?
You're not alone.
Many of us struggle with tasksthat drain our energy and increase
our stress, but we keep doingthem because we think we have to.
Today, I'm going to share asimple but powerful tool I developed.
It's called the PITA Matrixand that's P I T A and it will help

(00:20):
you identify what's reallycausing your stress and show you
practical ways to deal with it.
If you've been feelingstretched thin and want to reclaim
your time and energy, thisepisode might be exactly what you
need.

(00:42):
Welcome to Live well andFlourish, where I help you understand
what it means to live aflourishing life.
I'm your host, Craig Van Slyke.
If you're ready to thinkbeyond material and external success,
if you're ready to takecontrol of who you are and the kind
of life you live, if you'reready to flourish, this is the podcast
for you.
Are you feeling stressed?

(01:04):
In all likelihood, your answeris yes.
Stress seems to be a fixtureof modern life.
While I've explored variousaspects of stress in previous episodes,
which you canfind@livewellandflourish.com just
search for stress and you'llfind a bunch of episodes today we're
focusing specifically on workrelated stress, particularly the

(01:26):
kind that comes from beingoverworked or when unfulfilling tasks
crowd out meaningful work.
Personally, I find that muchof my stress comes from doing tasks
that I simply don't findenjoyable or rewarding.
Let me give you an example,one that motivated this episode in
the technique I'll describe later.

(01:48):
Reviewing is critical toacademic life.
You've probably heard the termpeer reviewed journal.
Well, I'm one of those peer reviewers.
Peer review is the lifebloodof academic research.
Without this work, the wholesystem falls apart.
I do a lot of review andeditorial work and it's very time
consuming.

(02:09):
Lately, I've been finding itmore and more stressful to do this
work.
Let's pause the story here andmove on to the technique you may
be familiar with.
The Eisenhower Matrix.
A powerful productivity toolnamed after President Dwight D.
Eisenhower.
This matrix helps prioritizetasks by plotting them on two importance

(02:34):
and urgency.
Tasks fall into one of fourquadrants, helping you decide what
to do, what to schedule, whatto delegate, how to and what to eliminate.
You can do the same sort ofthing to reduce stress.
Let me introduce you to what Icall the pita matrix.
That's pain in the anteriorand feel free to substitute your

(02:56):
own word there.
Picture drawing a cross on apiece of paper Creating four boxes.
The vertical line representsstress, with high stress tasks at
the top and low stress tasksat the bottom.
The horizontal line representsimportance, with important tasks
on the right and lessimportant tasks on the left.

(03:17):
This gives you four distincthigh stress, high importance in the
upper right, high stress, lowimportance in the upper left, low
stress, high importance in thelower right, and low stress, low
importance in the lower left.
Yeah, I know that's kind ofhard to visualize, but think of this
as a map of your tasks,showing you exactly where your stress

(03:39):
points are and how much eachtask matters.
To build your own PETA matrix,start by taking a week to notice
how you feel about eachregular task you do.
When you think about doing atask or actually do it, where would
you place it on the map?
Is it stressful?
Is it truly important?

(04:01):
Over time, you'll develop aclear picture of which tasks are
causing you the most stressand whether they're worth that stress.
Let me show you how this workswith some examples from my own work
life.
Let's start with reviewing papers.
Reviewing is definitely highon the stress dimension, but it's

(04:21):
also important.
Writing Live well and flourishepisodes is another frequent task.
This one is relatively low onstress and high on importance.
Editing these episodes, on theother hand, does cause stress, but
it's also high in importance.
Then there's email management,both responding to unsolicited messages

(04:44):
and clearing out spam.
Alright, let's consider eachone of these in turn.
Reviewing is high stress butalso high in importance.
Reviewing is just critical tothe academic system, but my personal
reviewing activities are onlymoderately important to my career.
That makes reviewing a littlebit interesting to deal with, but

(05:06):
we'll get to that more in a second.
Writing Live well and Flourishepisodes is low in stress, but important
to me personally as it lets meserve my life's purpose.
Editing is moderately stressinducing but high in importance.
For me, responding tounsolicited emails is low in importance
and high in stress.

(05:28):
Here's one more example.
Deleting spam email messages.
This is low in stress and lowin importance.
Okay, now we have five examples.
I know that seems a little oddsince the matrix has four quadrants,
but I have a reason.
Let's look at how we canhandle each one.
Reviewing, which is high instress and high in importance.

(05:51):
Reviewing is important becauseit's part of my job and it's critical
to the research community.
So I really shouldn't juststop doing reviews, but I can reduce
the number of reviews I do.
I do much more than my fairshare of reviewing, so I can afford
to cut back on the number of reviews.

(06:11):
I've already started doingthis by turning down reviews unless
there's a good reason to takeon the task, such as doing a favor
for a colleague, supporting animportant journal, or being highly
interested in the paper's topic.
I'm going to take this a stepfurther and put myself on a reviewing
budget.
I'll only take on a certainnumber of reviews each year.

(06:31):
When the review budget isspent, I'm done for the year Writing
Live well episodes this is lowin stress and high in importance.
Writing episodes rarely causesme any negative stress.
Most of the time I actuallylook forward to writing them, so
the only action I'll take hereis to possibly do more writing, although

(06:54):
I need to be careful to notoverload myself.
Overload is a core cause of stress.
Editing Live well episodes ismoderate stress, high in importance.
My plan for dealing withediting is to make it more efficient.
When you can't eliminate astress inducing activity, think about

(07:15):
how to spend less time on it.
In other words, think abouthow you can make it more efficient.
With respect to editing, I canincrease my skill level, be less
picky about little things thatdon't matter, or a combination of
both.
I'm a bit of a perfectionistwhen I edit Live well and flourish
episodes.
Quality is important, butsometimes I take things too far by

(07:39):
editing out problems that thevast majority of listeners will never
even notice.
I can reduce the time spent onediting by being a bit less of a
perfectionist, which willreduce the amount of stress editing
contributes to my life.
Responding to unsolicitedemail that's high in stress and low

(08:00):
on importance.
It's a little embarrassing howlong it took me to figure out that
I was under no obligation torespond to unsolicited emails.
Before having this epiphany, Iwould stress over the perceived need
to respond.
Then I realized I didn't haveto respond, so I simply stopped responding.

(08:21):
In fact, I rarely read thesemessages beyond a quick scan of the
first few sentences.
If the message is from someoneI know, of course I respond.
So I'm talking about thosemessages that aren't obviously spam,
but they aren't from acolleague or friend.
If something causes you stressbut isn't important, maybe you should

(08:41):
stop doing it.
Deleting spam messages is lowin importance.
It's also low in stress.
Some people are obsessiveabout keeping a tidy email inbox,
and there are good reasons todo it.
But I am not one of those people.
I'm fine with having thousandsof messages in my inbox.
So for me, deleting spammessages or even mailing list messages,

(09:05):
it's just not a big deal.
I delete these messages acouple of times a day when I'm between
tasks or need a bit of a break.
It's an easy task that causeszero stress, so I do it if and when
I have the chance.
Of course, you'll need to findyour own ways to deal with your tasks,
but the PITA matrix gives youa systematic way of figuring out

(09:26):
which tasks you should addressto reduce your stress.
Creating and applying yourpersonal PITA matrix will take a
little time and effort, butthat time and effort is an investment
in your mental health and your flourishing.
A big part of the PITA Matrixmethod is awareness of what's causing
you stress.

(09:48):
For major tasks, there's afairly easy way to do a stress check.
When you get ready to startthe task or when you schedule the
tasks, do a quick stress checkby evaluating how this makes you
feel.
For example, this morning as Igot ready to write this script, I
couldn't wait.
I felt a sense of excitementand positive anticipation.

(10:09):
So writing live well scriptsis in the low stress quadrant.
Later this morning, I have tofinish reviewing a paper.
Thinking about that causes meto feel stressed and a bit anxious
to have the review behind me.
That puts reviewing in thehigh stress category for me.
As you go about your day, dothese stress checks with every major

(10:31):
task you do.
My examples are all workrelated, but personal tasks should
be evaluated as well.
Once you have your stressinventory, follow the PETA method.
Over the course of a fewweeks, you'll find that you're not
only less stressed, you'll bespending more time and energy on
tasks that are trulyrewarding, and that is huge for your

(10:54):
flourishing.
Until next time, lower that stress.
My friends.
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