Have you been working on shifting your paradigm? Have you found your True North?  If so, congratulations. Not there yet? Still looking for your heart’s desire? That’s okay sweetie. As I said in Part I, shifting your paradigm is a journey that can't be rushed.

Where ever you are in your journey, you can begin to manage your vision by doing less. Here are some tips I've learned along the way.

First Step - Stop Planning!

Ok, not completely. 

The first thing I learned about accomplishing more while doing less is to spend less time planning. During my days of 60+ hour workweeks, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to get more done. I read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and sharpened my saw. I read David Allen's Getting Things Done and at one point had my inbox down to zero emails. These systems taught me to manage time and paper. They didn’t, however, help me accomplish more.

What I needed was a vision management system. Something that allowed me to do more of the things that excited me. That was where my True North came in. When I began homing in on my purpose, I began assembling my weeks accordingly. I became shocked at the amount of things I could accomplish, even as I was doing less - less planning, less of the things that didn’t excite me. Instead, I was spending my time on fewer, more important goals.

Align Your To Do List To Your True North

Once you start seeing your True North, doing less and accomplishing more becomes simple, if not intuitive. Point your compass to your True North and all else will follow.

• Start with identifying the single most important thing you can do for yourself. For me, it was eight hours sleep. (Not a bad place for everyone to start). I knew my immune system would retaliate if I didn’t give it this one thing every single day. So I get eight hours of sleep, and whatever activities I can fit in after that are gravy.
• Don’t spend more than 10 to 15 minutes a week planning or thinking about everything you have to do. Planning becomes a time suck. I sit down once a week and write out what I have to do for the week. For time sensitive items, I determine the best day to do them. That’s it. Any more time spent on planning is time taken away from your True North.
• Categorize your to-do items. I bundle my to-do items into categories (e.g., health, pottery, writing, schoolwork, day job). Each category supports my True North either directly or indirectly. There are no other categories, no other to-dos. For example, my schoolwork directly supports my True North by training me to be a holistic health coach. My day job, on the other hand, indirectly supports my True North by providing me current income and on-the-job business training. Under each category, I list what I have to get done that week.
• Schedule one True North item every day. Each category may have a one or two items a week. Make sure that every day gets at least one item from a category that directly supports a True North category (for me that means health, pottery, writing or schoolwork). This will keep your heart singing and make you less apt to resent those things that only indirectly support your True North.
• Keep your to do list short. Don’t schedule more than three things for any given day. More than three items induce stress. If you have four things, find another day to do one item. If your to-do list has more than 21 items for the week, cut anything that doesn’t serve your True North.
• Learn to be ok with doing just enough. Okay, this is probably the toughest – but most critical – lesson if you are a type-A personality like me. The world won’t stop if you don’t do everything on your to-do list. Really, it won’t. I promise.  
• Set expectations of those that “rely” on you. All of us have someone that relies on us. We also have people who we think rely on us, but who will do just fine if we aren’t there to clean up every mess. Sort this out in your heart and mind. Talk to these people and tell them that for your sanity and health you will be doing less for them. This may mean some adjusting on everyone’s part, but ultimately, you are empowering everyone – you, your friends, and your family. 

Final Thought: Know You Will Fail . . . And You Will Be Okay

The funny thing about this pair of posts about doing less is they almost didn’t get written. I had the idea and wrote a 1300 word draft in one sitting. But then my life blew up. I hit a To-Do List wall, stressing about the number of commitments I had, which all seemed to be converging and conflicting at once. Then a little mishap with my Etsy store put me into a complete melt down – I sold an item I couldn’t locate. Who was I to opine on accomplishing more while doing less? I couldn’t even keep track of my pottery. I had no wisdom to share.

Before I hit delete, however, I realized the beauty of my situation. The buyer wasn’t upset and I ended up finding the awol mug a few days later. Business crisis averted. This was an apt lesson in letting go of perfection. Yes, there are risks to do doing less. I don’t accomplish things perfectly. But I never really did. Something always fell through the cracks – usually me. Being aligned to my True North, now makes these crisis mere blips. No harm, no foul.

Are you ready to accomplish more, while doing less? What do you want to accomplish? What will you do less of, in order to accomplish more?

Heading North,