Productivity Tip – How to Create Your Year-End December To-Do Checklist

By Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO® | December 7, 2023 |

Today is December 7. Thanksgiving has come and gone. Hopefully you were able to unplug from work over that holiday weekend (at least for a day or two) and disconnect from your devices (for at least a few hours). For some reason, when December hits, many people go into frenzy mode at this time of year. Maybe it’s because they have a hard end-of-year deadline for personal or professional goals? My question to you would be:  Does it absolutely need to be completed by December 31, or was this an arbitrarily chosen deadline?

If you think you have a great deal to do and are realizing that it’s not humanly possible to do it (assuming you want to stay healthy and not-so-stressed), here’s how you can narrow down your December 31 deadlines:

What needs to be completed by December 31 because:

*you’ll lose your home, utilities or source of food?

*the law related to that particular task or project deems it so, or else you’ll go to jail?

*your insurance policy will expire, and you’ll no longer have coverage?

*you’ll be fined hundreds of dollars or more?

*you won’t get fined, but you’ll lose hundreds of dollars or more?

*it’s a company requirement, and you’ll get fired if you don’t?

*people who you don’t even know will die?

*you or someone you know will perish?

 

That pretty much covers your must-do’s.

Everything else is a “want to,” which means you don’t have to absolutely completely finish it by the end of the year.

If you’re finding it a challenge to narrow down what you think you need to do within the next three weeks, examine the list of questions above. After you have your answers, if you feel like you should do more, use this list to help you narrow down your “wants” and “shoulds.”

 

If at this point you’re thinking you don’t have time to spend on this planning mumbo jumbo, consider this: do you want to run yourself ragged and aimlessly chase down every random thought in your head, or do you want to invest 15 minutes in your mental, emotional and physical well-being so you can live your best life possible?

 

Happy Year-End!

 

 

For additional self-investment tips that will elevate your time management and productivity, take a peek at The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.

 

About Helene Segura, M.A. Ed., CPO®

As The Inefficiency Assassin™, Time Management Fixer Helene Segura empowers professionals on the go with the tools to slay lost time. Personal inefficiency at work leads to increased stress levels, lower morale, higher absenteeism, more turnover – and rising spending on employee health care and hiring. Why not improve productivity, decrease stress levels, and increase profits instead?The author of four books – two of which were Amazon best-sellers – Helene Segura has been the featured organization expert in more than 200 media interviews. She has coached hundreds of clients to productivity success and performance improvement by applying neuroscience and behavioral modification techniques to wipe out destructive, time-wasting habits.Helene turns time management on its head by sharing both client case studies and pop culture examples to teach her mind-bending framework for decreasing interruptions, distractions and procrastination so that companies can spend more time generating revenue.

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