2850: How to Stop Stressing About Your To-Do List by Rose Lounsbury on Productivity & Finding Joy

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[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: This is Optimal Finance Daily.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: How to Stop Stressing About Your To-Do List by Rose Lounsbury of roselunsbury.com

[00:01:19] [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm your host and personal finance enthusiast, Diana Merriam.

[00:01:24] [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back to a bonus Sunday episode.

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[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So with that, here's Justin from Optimal Living Daily as we optimize your life.

[00:01:50] [SPEAKER_02]: How to Stop Stressing About Your To-Do List by RoseLounsbury of roseloundsbury.com

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_02]: When I was a kid, I can remember sitting in the backseat of our green station wagon,

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_02]: staring out the window as we drove the four hours down I-75 from the thumb of Michigan

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_02]: to Fremont, Ohio to visit my grandparents.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_02]: It was the 1980s. No cell phones, no portable streaming devices.

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Thus I was stuck with the most popular in-car entertainment for kids of the era,

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_02]: staring out the window and thinking about stuff.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_02]: I remember watching all the other cars go by.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Sometimes we passed them and sometimes they passed us.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Some were going our way, some the opposite way.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember being struck by this incredible thought.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_02]: We will never know all of them.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_02]: There were so many cars, so many people all headed to their own destinations,

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_02]: perhaps to work or other obligations, to appointments or to see people they loved.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_02]: My young mind struggled to grasp that all these people were headed somewhere, just like us,

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_02]: and there somewhere was just as important to them as ours was to us.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_02]: And to blow my young mind even further, I realized that to them, we,

[00:03:07] [SPEAKER_02]: were just another car headed down 75, a station wagon of nameless, unknowable people,

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_02]: a passing blur on their own journey to wherever they were going.

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_02]: They hardly gave us a second thought as they switched lanes or signaled for their exit.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_02]: This thought amazed and slightly disturbed me.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_02]: When I stop to think about it now, it has the same effect.

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Because it points to a great truth, our collective smallness and insignificance,

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_02]: the sheer vastness of the world.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_02]: But within all of that, the power of each individual's purpose and meaning.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Our little green car was headed somewhere, but into us that somewhere mattered.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought about this last night as I made my schedule for today.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I do this most nights before I go to sleep.

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_02]: I consult my calendar, my to-do lists, my brain, and I make a list of must-dos and want-to-dos.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_02]: I try to block them out in time blocks, often using separate colors.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_02]: I put stars or double stars by the really important ones.

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_02]: This or a variation of it is a very typical activity for many people.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_02]: And I often encounter a frustrating pattern when I do this.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02]: There just isn't enough time to do all the things I want to do.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Because I want to wake up early and meditate.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I want to exercise.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I want to schedule social media for my business.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_02]: I want to reach out to past clients and see how they're doing.

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_02]: I want to attend the scheduled Zoom calls on my calendar.

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I want to make healthy meals for my family and spend time with them.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_02]: And I want to work on this blog post.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_02]: All of these wants, all of these to-do desires,

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_02]: rush through the pencil in my hand jostling for their spot on my paper.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_02]: And I'm often frustrated that there simply isn't room for all of them.

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_02]: This often makes me feel anxious or defeated, unproductive,

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_02]: like a bit of a failure.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Somewhere isn't someone getting all of the things done.

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Somewhere isn't someone managing everything.

[00:05:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And why can't I seem to do it?

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: This has been especially surprising to me during COVID-19.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_02]: Despite the horrific news and general feelings of anxiety we're all experiencing,

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought this pandemic with its social distancing and forced stay at home orders

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_02]: would give me the one thing I've always wanted more of.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Time.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_02]: I'd finally get caught up.

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_02]: Despite its drawbacks, the great pause would create the exact space I needed

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_02]: to feel like everything is finally, once and for all, crossed off the list.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Cue my dismay when this did not happen.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_02]: But then I thought of those I-75 trips of my childhood

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_02]: and all the passing cars all going somewhere.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_02]: And I realized another truth.

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_02]: We can only go one place at a time.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_02]: We were on the highway, headed to my grandmother's house.

[00:05:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Along the way we passed thousands of other possible destinations,

[00:06:01] [SPEAKER_02]: but that day at that time we could only go to one place.

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Sure, we could have worked ourselves up

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_02]: fretting about all the exits we didn't take,

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_02]: all the cars that were taking those exits

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: and the possible places and people they could have been experiencing.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_02]: We could have dwelt on that and chastised ourselves

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_02]: for our inability to pack more into our trip.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Or we could have done what I usually did.

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Sit back, stare out the window and enjoy the ride

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_02]: to the most important place we were headed that day,

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_02]: Grandma's house.

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_02]: So when I think about my to-do list today or any day,

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I think about those car rides.

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_02]: We're all on the road.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_02]: We're all headed somewhere doing something.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_02]: And if we can take a moment to pull our eyes off our lists,

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_02]: look up at the sky or out the window and just take it all in,

[00:06:49] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe we'll actually enjoy the ride.

[00:06:53] [SPEAKER_02]: Pleasurably anticipate where we're headed that day,

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_02]: one tiny purposeful car among billions,

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_02]: instead of anxiously fretting about where we're not.

[00:07:02] [SPEAKER_02]: So today I'll do one thing, one at a time.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_02]: And when I find myself worrying that it's not enough,

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_02]: that I'm some type of failure for not managing to do more,

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll try to remember those car rides of my childhood.

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_02]: I'll put myself back in that metaphorical backseat,

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: staring out the window, relaxing into the road I'm traveling today.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Sure, I'm just one car out of billions,

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_02]: but I am my car.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: This is my journey, the only one I get to take.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_02]: And I can choose to relax into it or not.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: And today, I want to enjoy the ride.

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_02]: Cheers to less worrying about what you're not doing

[00:07:42] [SPEAKER_02]: and more loving what you are.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_02]: You just listened to the post titled,

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_02]: How to Stop Stressing About Your To-Do List

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_02]: by Roseloundsbury of roseloundsbury.com

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[00:08:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you to Rose.

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_02]: I could definitely relate to that idea of thinking that

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_02]: with stay-at-home orders, I'd have more time to get things done,

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_02]: but of course that's not how things work.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER_02]: There's just way too many cars on the road to use her metaphor.

[00:09:13] [SPEAKER_02]: It's all about priorities.

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Which destination do you want to reach today?

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_02]: It's totally up to you.

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_02]: So thank you for being here and listening.

[00:09:21] [SPEAKER_02]: I really appreciate you making this one of your destinations for today.

[00:09:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't be headed where I'm going without you

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_02]: and I really don't want to change where I'm going,

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_02]: so it means a lot that you're listening.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_02]: Have a great rest of your day

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_02]: and I'll be back for the Thursday show tomorrow

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_02]: where your optimal life awaits.