Have you ever not known where to start when it comes to your To Do List? I face task list overwhelm ALL THE TIME. And is really sucks especially as a person with depression, PTSD, and anxiety. But I have discovered a prioritization method that works in any situation. Seriously! Any situation, work, personal life, goal setting, etc.
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This is the E.O.S. 1 2 3 Approach...
If you know what the E.O.S. System is, this is found in the I.D.S. section (Identify Discuss Solve). I’ll be talking more about the E.O.S. system by Gino Wickman soon and how I have applied it to my Goal Setting via The Moon Practice. Join the Owls&Indigo Tribe so you don’t miss it.
I have a quick lil’ tip for you today, this is something that I learned from my husband. It’s helped my anxiety a ton and it actually helps my goal-setting practice a lot too. This works on big work projects, very small granular tasks, and the daily life chore cycle.
I like to call it the 1-2-3 Approach from the E.O.S. System in the I.D.S. Section of Gino Wickman’s book Traction. I think it works really well for me and my anxiety + depression, because it gives me a very small list to focus on with little bite-sized granular things that I can actually grasp on the bad days.
This helps me the most on the days that I am depressed, can’t move, don’t have motivation to to anything, or even take care of myself. The 1-2-3 Approach also helps me on those days where I don’t know where to start, and I feel crippled by my anxiety. These are the days that everything seems the most important and everything is top of the list.
If everything is important then nothing is important. I have to remind myself that! Especially on those anxiety days where I’m bouncing all over the place and don’t know where to start because I’m feeling overwhelmed and distracted. I usually describe this as feeling “scattered.”
First, think about all of the things that you are supposed to get done for the day. Instead of writing a list of everything and doing a mental inventory or a braindump of all of those things… Pick the three most important things.
I pick what needs to be done right now that is most important, and then the next thing that is most important, and then the third thing that is most important.
Only write a list with those three items on it. Don’t write another list until you’re done with those three things. AND THAT’S IT!
Don’t write anything else down. Once you finish those things go ahead and start the 1-2-3 Approach again. You’ll be surprised at how much you can get done in a day or in a smaller defined time.
The E.O.S. 1-2-3 System has really really helped me. This prioritizing approach has leveled up my G.Y.S.T.’ing, G.S.D.’ing modes, and goal setting practice too.
I’ll be talking a little bit more about E.O.S. in the future and how it relates to goal setting and what I’ve taken from it and put into my own goal-setting practice.
See how far you get. I would love to know how many 1-2-3’s you can get through in a day. I normally can only get through six total items, sometimes nine, but normally each of my items are pretty big items that are then broken down into smaller bits. So for me I don’t necessarily get through a ton of things, but there are days when I blast through them and I get through nine, or even twelve. Sometimes almost 20 total items! Those are the days where I have little tasks to do like pick up the mail, drop off a package, fold the laundry, or other chores.
I hope this has helped you today. Make sure you try the 1-2-3 Approach and only write down the top three things that need to get done for the day, leave that never ending task list behind.
