143: Is It Time to Let That Project Go?

Is it time to let that project go?

If you’ve been listening to this show for a while you know I’m no stranger to taking on more than is humanly possible.

As a high achiever with big goals for myself and a passion for learning, I like taking on new projects.

And that’s great, until my to-do list ends up being a mile long, and I’m feeling constantly stretched for time.

When that happens, when I start to feel overwhelmed like I’m never going to get it all done in a day, those projects that used to excite me, that were part of my productive zone of activity, start slipping into my stress zone.

You might be wondering what I’m talking about with these zones. Today on The Bold Life podcast I’ll introduce you to what I call the Productivity Formula, and how I use this to make those tough decisions about where I spend my time and energy, including why I’m taking a break from this podcast for a few months, and how you can use this system to make prioritizing easier when you feel overwhelmed with your to-do list. Okay let’s dive in.

Solving the Productivity Formula to Take Control of Your Days

In my group coaching program, Time Warrior Academy, I teach my students what I call the Productivity Formula. The idea behind the productivity formula is that we all have tasks on our to-do list that fill us with energy and motivation, that we love to do and that we’re good at, and tasks on our to-do list that drain our batteries and zap our time and energy.

The goal is to identify where each task on your to-do list falls in this formula, what zone it lands in, so you can spend more time in your productive zone, and less time in the other zones stuck in busy work and energy draining tasks.

Here’s a quick overview of how the zones work.

The zone where you want to spend as much time as possible is the Productive Zone. These are the tasks on your to-do list that you love to do, that you could spend all day doing and love your career and your life, and tasks that you’re also good at. For me tasks that fall in my productive zone including writing articles for journals, teaching students in my programs, and speaking. And for a long time, this podcast was in my productive zone (more on that in a minute).

The zone where we often get stuck is the Busy Zone. These are tasks that are fun to do, but you're either not that good at them, or they’re not really moving the needle. It’s easy to get stuck in the busy zone because it feels like we’re being productive, because we’re busy all day. But these tasks zap our time and energy. For me this is things like social media. It’s fun to creat new posts and videos for instagram, but if i’m being honest it’s not my strength, so it takes me a lot of time, without giving me a lot of benefit (either for my business and career, or for my overall well being). Email often falls in our busy zone. It feels like we’re getting a lot done, but our time quickly fades away and all of a sudden you’ve been at your computer for an hour and haven’t gotten anything checked off your to-do list.

The next zone we want to minimize is the Bored Zone. These are tasks you’re good at but you don’t like doing them. Some of the paperwork and reports I have to do in my clinical practice fall here. I’m good at it, but it isn’t that exciting for me (it’s a lot of repetitive work and it gets boring fast). The shoulds often fall in teh bored zone. Things you feel like you should be doing, but you don’t really want to do them.

And finally the Stress Zone. These are tasks that drain your batteries and you aren’t good at them so you’re not very efficient. Anything technology related falls here for me. As soon as we have a tech hiccup i can feel my stress level go up just thinking about dealing with it. It takes a lot of time and brain power, and I know I could be better using my time elsewhere.

Deciding What’s Priority, So You Can Let the Rest Go

I know we can’t spend all our time in Productive Zone tasks. We all have parts of our jobs or businesses that are necessary but we don't’ love doing them. Or chores and things we have to do to keep our house running smoothly.

But if you’ve ever had one of those days where the time rushed by, all of a sudden it’s the end of the day, and you still have energy left, you’re excited to keep working on that project tomorrow, and you feel like you got so much accomplished…chances are you’ve been working in your productive zone most of the day.

But those days where time drags, you’re looking at the clock every few minutes, or you get to the end of the day and you’re exhausted but when your family asks you what you did all day you’re not sure where the time went…yep you’ve probably been working most of your day in one of the other zones.

Here’s an important point - what’s productive zone for me might be stress zone or bored zone for someone else, and vice versa. We all have strengths, and we all have unique tasks that we love to do, and those we don’t like to do. Learning your own strengths and weaknesses is key to making the productivity formula work for you.

And, tasks can change zones depending on your current priorities.

Maybe right now a productive zone task is working on that big project at work that you want to get done for quarter 1, but tomorrow your kid has a school play and that’s productive zone priority work that day.

Priorities can change, and that’s a good thing. What’s important is recognizing when tasks shift in your brain. To do that I recommend paying attention to how tasks make you feel.

Why I’m Taking a Break from this Podcast to Recharge my Batteries

Back to this podcast. When I started my podcast I loved planning and recording episodes. I’d wanted to start a podcast for a while, and I’ve shared before that early in the pandemic when my clinic was closed I found some extra time in my day to start the podcast. And I was so excited and motivated. I enjoyed finding new topic ideas, researching new guests and meeting new people, and even the tech part didn’t stress me out too much because I loved sharing these strategies and stories with you.

But after almost three years my brain’s approach to this show has shifted. Instead of feeling motivated and excited to record an episode, it’s starting to feel like a “should”. Something I have to do each week. One more thing to check off an ever growing to-do list.

And making podcast episodes has moved from my productive zone, to somewhere between my bored zone and my stress zone.

I’ve been reflecting on this for a couple months now. At first I thought maybe I just had other priorities (I had a busy client list in the fall and then it was the holidays, so other things were moving into priority spots on my to-do list).

But then I started to get writer's block. Staring at my screen and having no idea what to talk about this week. And I found myself procrastinating. Putting off recording until the next week, then the next, until I was tight on a deadline and had to work extra to get it recorded in time (and starting to feel like this was entering my stress zone).

I realized I needed a break. I needed to take the podcast off my productive zone for a while, and give my brain a chance to recharge. To give myself the space to bring back that creativity, joy, and excitement in recording episodes. So I was creating content that not only was helpful for our community, but also something I was happy and motivated to create.

And let me tell you that was a hard choice. My inner perfectionist and inner people pleaser started telling me a bunch of nonsense about what taking a break meant.

That it meant I wasn’t good enough, or smart enough, or dedicated enough to persevere with the show. That if I didn't have anything to say every week that somehow meant I was no longer good at my job, and how could I expect to help my clients if I couldn’t even keep myself on track to record a podcast each week.

That I was letting you down. Those folks like you who listen each week. Who send me emails telling me how much they enjoyed an episode, or how they’re using the strategies in their own lives now. That I'm failing if I stop the show and let all those people down.

And it was hard to push back against that inner perfectionist and inner people pleaser.

To remind myself to practice what I preach. That it’s important to recognize when something is no longer serving us, whether that’s a project that’s no longer contributing to your work goals, or a relationship that drains your batteries, or some aspect of your schedule that’s just not working anymore. That it’s okay to make those changes when we need them. For our priorities to shift.

And that taking care of myself every once in a while, actually helps prevent me from burning out so I can be the best leader, coach, educator, speaker, mom, wife, woman I can be.

Do this this week

Here’s my challenge to you this week. Take a look at your to-do list and ask yourself if there’s anything that has moved out of your productive zone. Something you used to enjoy that you were so excited to start, but it’s just not working for you anymore. And give yourself permission to let that thing go if needed, or at least take a break to allow your brain to recharge.

So I’m taking a break from the podcast. There won’t be any new episodes for the next few months while I give my brain and my creative juices a chance to recharge. So I can reflect on where I want this show to go, and how it fits into my current goals and priorities.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t hear from me! Instead of a weekly podcast I’m shifting my focus to writing. You know how much I love writing, and I’m going to use that extra time to write more articles in journals like Psychology Today, and so I can focus on my weekly email newsletter. So make sure you’re on my email list because what used to be in the podcast each week is now going to be coming right to your inbox including more strategies to challenge your brain’s default habits so you can accomplish your goals faster and still have energy left to enjoy them.

Thank you so much for supporting me and The Bold Life Podcast. And make sure you’ve subscribed to my email list so you hear when new episodes are ready to go again in a few months. Bye for now!

Show Highlights

[01:59] - What is the Productivity Formula?

[02:34] - We want to spend the most time possible in the Productive Zone.

[03:04] - The zone we get stuck in is the Busy Zone.

[04:02] - We also want to minimize the Bored Zone and the Stress Zone.

[05:27] - The tasks in everyone’s zones are different per person and career.

[06:15] - Pay attention to how tasks make you feel.

[07:31] - Tasks that we used to love may also slip into feeling like a “should”.

[08:42] - It is important to realize when a project is no longer serving you.

[09:27] - Give yourself permission to take a break.

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