I am in total agreement with this post. That is a big part of what my job has become now - dumping the things I didn’t like or that didn’t matter to me, finding faster ways to get the “annoying” tasks done (or giving them to someone else) and focusing on the things I WANT my job to be about - I don’t think my job would be what it is if I hadn’t done that. Now, did I know I was doing that? Hell no. But after 5 and a half years, looking back - I see it clearly. That’s exactly what happened, and you’re right - no one freaked out, nothing bad happened, nothing fell through the cracks. And I get to do the things that make me excited about work. Nice how that works out, eh?

I don’t understand your key point:

You will be surprised at how many things are on your list because you decided they were important, and not someone else. Which means, of course, that you can dump them.

I thought the problem was the opposite–so many of the things we obsess about are things that other people decided were important. So we waste time on that instead of focusing on the things we decide are important. If we let other people set our priorities, we have no priority left for ourselves…

Actually, you sort of made a speech video. You spoke at the Madison Rotary meeting in June, and Madison City Channel 12 taped it, and continues to broadcast it. For those of you not in Madison to watch it occasionally, you can watch it on their website http://www.cityofmadison.com/mcc12/adhocsjune.html.

Full disclosure: I work there and have enjoyed watching it many times. It was my introduction to Penelope!

Hmmm, that link didn’t work when I tried it after posting. If it doesn’t work for you, try this. Go to http://www.mcc12.tv Follow the “Programming” heading, then “Special Presentation” part way down the page, and it’s under June, since that’s when it was. Enjoy!

thank you so so much for this post. i am beginning to declare online bankruptcy - deleting old accounts and spending less time trying to keep it all together so i can focus on writing my book and starting a new job in a few weeks.

A bright spot; I’d encourage you to write more posts like this.

Penelope, I so needed this today. Thanks! It almost makes me feel like crying, it’s such a relief. I knew I could ditch some stuff, but it’s good to read it from you instead of just telling myself in my head.

Wow you’re too busy to improve your blog’s SEO while most of the time busier SEO’ing than working. Hey what am I talking about, my work is SEO.

Seriously, I’ve also noticed that there were so many opportunities that I’ve taken for granted in the last few weeks. I call it holiday slump. But I’m working on it right now by reading blogs like yours. :-)

Oh and if you need some off-page SEO help, you got my email.

I love this post. I love dumping stuff that I am far better without! I love ignoring tasks that add zero to my happiness or to the welfare of one human being. I learned how to be meaner and leaner in my lists and to-do’s and to become a smarter minimalist when I started living my life on two hemispheres (one at a time). The only tasks I added because of this lifestyle were finding the best backpacks (that serve as weekend bags, nice-looking “professional” carrying gear, and laptop-food-books-mystery shlepping sacks).

I have not commented here in eons, a to-do I refuse to ignore. So, I am wishing you continued success purging the junk of life and shining light on your thoughts so that others might learn, if appropriate to them. And a happy season and new year.

Love,
Tamar

This totally hits home! This time of year, I always feel overwhelmed. Your advice has helped me regain some much needed perspective on what I can stop stressing about and just ignore.

I am always looking for guidance on how to prioritize more effectively. I write about it a lot on my blog (The Executive Assistant’s Toolbox), mainly because I think it’s one of the most important things you can do to be successful in your career - and keep it from overwhelming you at the same time. Thanks for a wonderful article - I’m so glad to have found another site for career development!

Great post. One thing we do is use a Agile methodology (SCRUM to be exact) which preaches constant revaluation of features (todos) based on impact and cost. I have been trying to apply it to my personal life and it has been working pretty well so far.

This of corse dovetails nicely with your delegation post. The more you delegate the less impostant stuff you have to pass on!

How encouraging/reassuring/comforting. Thanks!

You don’t need to job hop in order to change jobs. You don’t need permission. You can just change the emphasis on your to do list, and thus decide what you want your job to be about.

I find myself disagreeing with about 70% of what you say, Penelope, and comments like this are why I keep reading you anyway. That is a profoundly insightful statement. Great article!

It’s so easy to get tied up in other people’s priorities and forget what’s important for ourselves. Thanks Penelope.

Nice post. I was struck though by the ending - being both the mom and writer you want to be. I know some of the people who comment hate when you post about you personal life; I have learned a lot from your more personal posts. They’ve been tremendously helpful to me and very insightful on how marriage can be so tough for two professionals. I am wondering what is going on now - there is so clearly an omission of “wife” from this post. Would you share the latest?

Penelope,

In a world where we’re trying to have it all and do it all, where we’re constantly adding things and craving more things in our lives, it’s an excellent practice to regularly and consciously take inventory of what we can cut from our lives.

Tina Turner, the Queen of Rock and Roll once said: “If you are unhappy with anything… whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you are free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”

I couldn’t agree more.

David

Great Post! I like the idea of being intentional and controlling your job by what you focus on. This takes one out of the victim mentality and allows one to pursue growth in any position…

“I found the time I needed by deciding which parts of my job to stop doing.”

I’m going to try really hard to remember that!

Wonderful.

I thank God every day I’m not a Mom.

Good insight. Took you a while to figure out you may have limitations. It is good to have more options that you can do. It is wise to know you can not entertain all options.

This post is insightful.

Often though we must guard against the tendency to validate our decisions, after we have made them, simply to placate our egos.

No one wants to see themselves as foolish or to think that they have made a mistake in an important life/work decision. So we “FIND” reasons to prove the validity of our occasionally incorrect decisions. This prevents us from making the headway we otherwise would.

One way to avoid this is to establish performance measures for objective delivery, when making major decisions.

I guess what I’m trying to say is be ready to dispassionately analyse any and all decisions you make, particularly about tasks you take on or discard. Don’t be pig-headed and continue a course of action after it has failed to deliver the results you expected, in the reasonable timeframe that you expected it to be delivered.

Depending upon your goals, some tasks may not or should not be ignored.

Just my 2 cents worth:)

P.S. Penny, is there any way that there could be spell check added to this posting mechanism. I feel so silly having to go back and forth to MS Word to spell check stuff. Just something on my Christmas wishlist, along with ripped abs and arms like tree trunks:)

Excellent post. This not only applies to individuals but organizations as well. The worn out phrase “Because we’ve always done it this way” comes to mind. We should always be asking ourselves if what we’re doing is the best use of our time and looking for ways to optimize our time.

Awww I really like this post. It really is the life of a sole business person working for his/hers own company. It’s like that story of stopping and sharpening the saw, sometimes you just have to take time to make sure you are okay, so your business will be too ;)

Happy holidays,
Cindy