Today we’re going to tackle the myth going around the mom productivity space that if you can just wait for (or create) that magic burst of energy, you’re going to clear your to-do list, get like twenty things done, and cue angels singing (aka, everything gets fixed about your mom day).
Ah, no – that’s not how it works.
First of all, your to-do list isn’t the only measure of what’s working or not working about your life. You could have a totally chill day-in-the-life and a super long to-do list of everything that you want to get done in the school year (you just aren’t putting it all onto your week, every single time!).
Or you could be crossing out that task list like a ninja, so focused that anything and everything that’s *not* on that list suffers (including your kids).
It’s your choice.
But anyway, back to our topic at hand. I think this “burst of energy” thinking is actually a myth – and a really dangerous one that’s holding you back from ever right-sizing your own supermom life.
See, when you hold onto “someday” magical thinking, you’re still viewing your to-do list as the be-all end-all. Still thinking it holds the key for you.
*And*, you’re still seeing your current, normal sort of energy as the deficit state. Not the default it really is.
Because no, super-high energy only comes for a few days a month when you’re at that time in your cycle – so best you got used to that and adjusted your day-to-day expectations accordingly.
Next thing that “super magical productivity surge” thinking steals from you is the inner knowing that you can accomplish anything you put on your to-do list. That whatever you choose is the right amount, and therefore, can get done.
Because super productivity surges automatically demand super-long to-do lists, don’t they? And that’s not the way you want to live.
No, you want a reasonable, manageable, going-to-get-crossed-off-even-if-I-have-a-bad-day kind of list.
Which isn’t going to happen if you’re piling anything and everything on there.
Your to-do list isn’t the only measure of what’s working or not working in your life.
The third thing that’s wrong with supermom list-clearing sessions is that there’s no balance. You live in guilt land for weeks and months, *finally* get up the energy to take care of everything, and then go straight back to exhaustion land and let it all pile up again.
Which means that instead of working on one or two things per day, you cower in fear of the whole to-do list and refuse to start *anything* – because you’re so used to this “all or nothing” kind of thinking.
Listen, guys – you’re a mom, and you’re busy, and you *can’t* whack off that whole to-do list with ten dozen things on it in one go! So why do you keep telling yourself that?
You need to start a *new* habit of “just one thing at a time” or “two things a day keeps the chore monster at bay.” Something!
Anything to retrain your brain from “have to knock out everything at once or it doesn’t count” to “small, sustainable progress builds my daily productivity habit for the long run.”
Okay?
So don’t wait on some sort of magical mom energy power surge thinking to fix everything about your to-do list (and therefore #momlife).
You need to get some internal balance first. (Maybe even delete a bunch of not-necessaries from said to-do list before you tackle it!)
Once you’re clear on how much you can sustainably do day-to-day, *that’s* when you’re allowed to start taking that giant to-do list (hopefully much less giant now) and start crossing things off on it.
*Not* when you’re still stuck in “my to-do list is my worth” land, though.
All right? Reframe what’s realistic, delete everything that’s not, and then give yourself permission to let the new plan be one or two things a day *max*, and that’s it.
Everything will get done.
And if it doesn’t, it wasn’t all that essential in the first place.
Where do you need to relax into that thinking today?
