062: Increase your productivity by removing pressure (5 ideas)
Feeling the pressure to get things done can actually make us less productive, not more. So what can we do to reduce the pressure?
In the episode, you'll learn
an uncommon approach to batching
tips for making your to-dos feel manageable
a trick that helps you feel less pressure even if you don't change anything in your plans as a result
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Show notes
I’m gonna get right to the five ideas to reduce pressure, because I want this to be a quick, actionable little episode:
1 - Do one thing before batching
This is actually what I’m doing with this episode! I’m working on scripting and recording episodes for the entire month of July. My plan is to do quite short episodes, so that they don’t take as long to script, record, and edit as normal. Still, the thought of producing 5 episodes in time for the first one to go out on Sunday night felt a bit overwhelming.
So I did what I often do if I’m feeling like this about a batch: I’m producing this one episode first from start to finish, so that I have my next episode good to go and scheduled.
That gives me then more peace of mind to create the rest of the episodes without the Sunday deadline looming. Because wanting an episode to go out on Sunday night, which is Monday morning for many of you, means that I really gotta get them done by end of Friday unless I wanna work during the weekend.
And I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I do work on weekends — usually on things I’m excited about, and the podcast does qualify. But I certainly don’t want to work on the weekend because I “have to”. This makes me think, that maybe it’s time I change the day that the podcast goes out? We’ll see.
2 - Check what actually matters that day/week
If looking at the tasks you’ve planned for the week is making you feel overwhelmed, it’s time to evaluate what’s actually important.
Sometimes when I plan, I put in a bunch of stuff into a week because there’s still plenty of space in it. But once the week actually rolls around, some tasks definitely shine through as the more important and impactful ones, but I can see that others aren’t really a priority. They’re neither urgent nor important.
So that’s when I’ll either declutter them, meaning completely take them off, or reschedule them to a future week.
3 - Keep to-do list small
This is key – if you only have a long master list of tasks that is a jumble of important tasks, deadlined tasks, all kinds of ideas and things you’d like to get to “someday” – it becomes very overwhelming for your brain to process and the pressure will rise.
Which means it just wants to shut all that down.
Which makes me think of David Rose who tells his ex-boss to “Best to shut that all down I think” when he’s uncovered that his boss’ partner and lover aren’t being truthful with her. If you haven’t watched Schitts Creek, I am obsessed.
Anyway – it’s easier to get your brain onboard and to reduce pressure by having a small list of things you want to do on the day vs a huge laundry list that your brain knows can never be done in one day.
4 - Plan upfront to avoid tasks becoming critical
While I do appreciate some people (who advocate for doing less in your business) for saying that if something’s not deadlined this very week, you don’t need to do it yet… I think leaving tasks, especially client-related ones, too close to the deadline also creates unnecessary pressure.
Urgency and deadlines *can* for sure push us to get a thing done, but statistically, we’re more likely to make mistakes and overall not produce our best, most creative work when we’re feeling that urgency. Because at that point the nervous system has kicked in, and it’s just trying to save our butts vs make sure that we actually do a good job.
I do use self-afflicted urgency sometimes. For example, if I want to create a sales page or a freebie, it’s not a bad idea for me to get myself be a featured guest in a group or on a podcast and *talk about that thing*, because then I know I need to have that done by the time people see it.
5 - Breathe and stretch
Speaking of the nervous system – when we feel stress, urgency, and/or pressure, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in which makes us ready to react through fight, flight, or freeze.
None of those reactions are super helpful when we’re trying to get things done in an intentional, creative, focused, problem-solving way.
So just taking a bit of time to breathe deep belly breaths, or to stretch, helps you signal to your brain, through your body, that you’re safe and ok.
You might intellectually know that everything’s not quite fine, but you can still use your these tricks to signal to your brain that you’re ok. When your body and brain feel ok, you’re better equipped to do the things you need to do. This helps calm down your nervous system, it reduces the fight, flight, freeze response, and unlocks your more creative problem-solving skills and focus.
Hey if you liked this episode, it would be awesome if you shared your favorite out of these 5 ideas to help others reduce some pressure they’re feeling, too! Don’t forget to tag me @thejennahellberg so that I can see and share your story.