My To-do List Got Longer, But My Stress Went Down

How is there SO MUCH to do?

Are you feeling overwhelmed with how much you need to get done? If you are, you’re not alone. I took an Instagram poll last week where 93% of respondents said they felt like there was not enough time in their day to get everything accomplished.

Spring is a time for reawakening and new beginnings. It’s a time for coming out of our winter hibernation to connect with others, clean our spaces (and minds), enjoy some sunshine, and see new plants come to life.

It’s the beauty of the seasonal change. It’s also why so many east coasters say they’ll never move west (or at least the coverups we tell ourselves) – “I just love the seasons too much.”

However, along with the vibrant changes, more things to DO in our day-to-day lives also pop up. 

It feels like even if you have a productive day crossing things off your to-do list, it  only seems to get longer by the next day. 

How is that even possible? Where do these tasks come from? How are our calendars back-to-back all day long without us taking the time to consciously drink in what exactly we’re doing and why.

For some of us, it’s due to our own volition and drive to succeed, achieve, and accomplish more. For others, it’s the responsibilities we have for our kids, loved ones, careers, and friends. But for most of us, it’s usually a combination of both.

 

What can I do about it?

After working in banking for so long, where life is one task to the next and one email or pitch to the next, I figured entrepreneurship would be a nice change of pace. It would allow me to slow down and finally be more deliberate with all of my tasks. I’d be more present and take conscious note about how I spend each minute of my day. 

Well that was wishful thinking.

What I’ve garnered from my first month as a full-time life coach and entrepreneur is that it’s arguably even more intense than my corporate job was. There are seemingly endless tasks to accomplish that only multiply in the down time when I’m trying to recharge and not think about work.

It’s a blessing to be able to get up every day and do something that genuinely lights me up. Coaching allows me to contribute to the well-being of others and the world. 

Yet, as I’ve deepened my spiritual practice over the past handful of years, I am keenly aware of how important it is to be extremely present. A guiding insight I also received from my ayahuasca journey.

Slowing down and being present provides us the opportunity to reflect. 

It allows us the space to notice the signs, symbols, synchronicities, and miracles happening all around us in every moment. It also lets spontaneity flow into our lives, which often brings us some of the most beneficial and fun experiences we can have.

Yes, we all have real-world tasks to accomplish to put food on the table for ourselves and loved ones. But sometimes, it feels like the external stimuli suck us in. 

They draw all of our attention away from the presence so many of us seek to feel calm and peaceful internally. As Bob Proctor so accurately says in his guided abundance meditation, “calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of life.”

So where do we fit in the time for ourselves? Everyone is a self-care advocate these days, and rightly so. 

 

How does your energy feel?

If we can’t completely fill our own energetic cups up first, how can we expect to share that energy with the people in our lives who rely on us.

The concept is similar to putting on an oxygen mask when pressure drops inside an airplane. We are supposed to first put on our own mask before assisting others. If we don’t take care of ourselves first and foremost, we likely won’t be able to help others to the best of our abilities for both their and our long term success and livelihood. 

But when it truly feels like there just aren’t enough hours in the day, how do we create time for the things that will replenish our own cup? 

The relaxing bath, unwinding with a good book, watching a movie, taking the dog to the park – there’s so many ways each of us feels individually called to relax and reenergize ourselves.

For me personally, meditation and physical exercise have always proven to be mind-clearing and re-focusing activities. They both provide tangible benefits, as well as an energetic top-up. The benefits are well-documented (included below) and I enjoy coupling productivity with self-care. 

Meditation benefits include:

• – Reduced stress
• – Controlled anxiety
• – Promoted emotional health
• – Longer attention span
• – Increased cortical thickness
• – Reduced memory loss
• – Improved sleep
• – And so many others that are now the topics of mainstream medical and scientific research

Physical activity benefits include:

• – Lower blood pressure and cholesterol 
• – Improved mood
• – Boosted serotonin in the body
  • —– Serotonin (the satisfaction molecule) regulates behavior and dampens negative emotion via the prefrontal cortex
• – Boosted norepinephrine in the body (attention enhancer)
• – Boosted energy

However, the beauty of life is that there’s ultimately no right or wrong way to live it or create time and space for yourself.

Sticking with physical activity/fitness as an analogy, I noticed that oftentimes the body wants to move faster towards the final repetitions of a slow tempo exercise. This is the body’s mechanism for alleviating strain on the muscles and getting itself out of the exhaustive situation.

However, the true growth happens when you SLOW DOWN. It’s the time under tension which creates the largest tears in the muscle fibers. In turn, this causes the muscle to grow back stronger in order to handle the weight and number of repetitions with greater ease the next time you do the exercise.

Similarly, the to-do list, endless calendar appointments, and incessant email notifications are our dumbbells. The anxious buzz in the back of our minds is our body wanting to move faster to alleviate the strain and stress.

Every day, week, month, and year, we tell ourselves, “I’ll get to _________ when things slow down a bit. I just don’t have the time right now.”

From the elevated hecticness, there are some relative lulls in our lives. However, the truth of the matter is, year after year a new set of obligations arises. These obligations come into our life path and demand our time and attention. From wedding planning to new babies or moving, there is always something. That’s just the nature of it and the way life is. Especially for so many of us working hard to achieve our big dreams and desires.

 

Slow down to turn down (the resistance)

The work will always be there, the things to do will always be there, but taking time and slowing down has to come with conscious intent. After all, when we slow down, we grow in a way that reduces friction and resistance.

In 1827, German physicist Georg Ohm made a discovery about electrical circuits that is dubbed Ohm’s Law. As it relates to electricity, the amount of current in an electrical circuit is inversely proportional to the resistance in the circuit.

Said differently, the more resistance there is in the circuit’s flow, the less energy that can flow into that circuit.

When we forget to make space and time for ourselves, resistance accumulates in our bodies. This resistance often takes the form of overwhelm, burnout, apathy, anxiety, fear, anger, worry, and apprehension. That emotional and mental resistance then prevents us from living an energetically aligned life. Often, it goes as far as to manifest as physical illnesses, injuries, or internal/external relational tensions.

We need to prioritize what we deeply feel we need to. That way, we can sense we’re making progress towards our goals and ambitions, while not losing our presence in the now.

Slowing down doesn’t mean stopping, rather, it means being more deliberate. 

A way in which I continue to keep my progress in motion, is by asking myself one simple question every morning as I’m brushing my teeth.

“What is the ONE THING I’m committed to completing today?”

Some days it will be to write a blog post, record countless videos, volunteer, and have a couple coaching sessions. Other days when my energy feels lower, it can be as simple as vowing to do the laundry or read 10 pages of a book.

There’s no right or wrong, only what you deeply feel you need in order to make incremental progress while simultaneously taking care of yourself.

We need to know when to treat ourselves with self-compassion and forgiveness, so that we don’t build unnecessary resistance within our energetic bodies. We are energy after all – neurons generate electricity when fired. 

The tangible result of increased resistance is decreased flow states and authenticity.

 

Energy Management

We make time for what we want to make time for – it’s as simple as that. 

Whether it’s deciding to text someone back immediately, taking the dog out, planning a dinner, meditating for 5 minutes, going to a movie night, or working out. Ultimately, we are in control to prioritize, and WE make the choice. Some of those free will choices result in feeling more energized, and others result in feeling drained. Our bodies are highly intelligent feedback systems that are consistently giving us a thumbs up or thumbs down for every one of our choices.

There is a story about two woodcutters who decided to hold a competition to see who could cut the most wood. They started at the same time and the same place. After an hour, the first one stopped cutting. The second one felt victorious because he was not yet tired. 

10 minutes later, the first woodcutter resumed. An hour later, the first one stopped again for 10 minutes. The second woodcutter, tasting victory again, continued all day.

At the end of the day, to his surprise, the second woodcutter actually cut less wood than the first. When he asked the first woodcutter how he cut so much more wood when he kept taking 10 minute breaks every hour, the first woodcutter pointed out that every hour he stopped, he stopped to sharpen his ax. 

The second woodcutter was practically hammering away with the blunt edge of his ax, while his competitor continued to chop with a sharper and sharper blade. 

The core takeaway from the allegory is that we must all stop to sharpen our blades periodically. 

Down time does not mean stop working and give in to unnecessary distractions (social media/news scrolling, mindless video watching, etc). 

It means consciously creating space by taking time to replenish ourselves and be mindful of our energy in the present moment.

The juice is always worth the squeeze. Especially when the outlook is focused on a specific goal with firm resolve that the goal will be achieved. However, when the person squeezing the press does not have enough energy, there is no juice.

This spring, consciously call back your power if you feel scattered or overwhelmed with endless tasks. Be mindful of taking concerted time for yourself however that looks – physical rest, exercise, time outside, etc. 

Think about the intention behind what you’re doing – both in your work and your downtime. That conscious intent will be your guiding compass. 

Life moves fast and is full of obligations. Time will continue to go on, so it is up to you to prioritize yourself. 

Listen to your body and energy when you need to recharge it. A full battery will give you the additional strength and motivation to give it your all when you need to.

There may never be enough time in the day to get everything accomplished. But there is always enough time to slow down and ask yourself, “What is my intention?”, “Did I do the one thing I set out to accomplish today?”, “How does my energy feel?”

Energy doesn’t lie; and the more you pay attention to your energy, the more you’ll be able to reduce the resistance in your life.