If you are like most households, you have a "Honey Do" list. A list of things that need to be done around the house... some major, most minor but all annoying you until they are done.
Over the long cold winter, the length of the list has probably grown since you were busy dealing with snow and, in general, trying to keep warm. Speaking of "keeping warm", did you know that Dr.Phil's comments on "
Honey Do Lists" are in the "Relationships / Sex" portion of his website? Clearly the state of your Honey Do List has an impact on your relationship with your "Honey".
But Now... Spring is HERE ! And along with it comes the chance to break out the Honey Do list and fix all those "nagging problems". But, is there an easier way?
Here are our "Top 10 Ways To Reduce Your HoneyDo List" ...
1) Organize & Prioritize. By getting the important things done first, the impact of the rest of the list will be less. You may also be able to combine some tasks or get out the same tools for multiple tasks and complete them all more efficiently.
2) Eat The Frog. As the title of a book by Brian Tracy suggests, "If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, it is unlikely you will encounter anything worse during the day." What he means is that if you tackle the hardest, most onerous task first then the rest will be easy by comparison.
3) Delegate, Delegate and then... Delegate. What are you good at? Is your career specialty cleaning up your yard? Not for most people. If you focus on what you are good at (and enjoy) while getting someone else to do things that they are good at, you end up getting things done faster, easier and often cheaper than it would have cost to do them yourself. Do what you are good at... and delegate the rest.
4) Divide and Conquer. They say "Many hands like light work." (or something like that) and you can do that too. By recruiting family and friends, you can get things done more quickly and enjoy some time together too ! (Just be careful how you persuade your friends & family to help ... you might get things done but end up with some grumpy people in your life.) Be sure to make it worthwhile for them ... maybe with a cookout afterwards or by emphasizing some positive aspects of completing the tasks.
5) Filter the list. Some things really don't need to be done at all. Either you have become accustomed to the situation (so there is no sense changing it) or they are so low priority that you can honestly say "I have more important things to do... and this is never going to make my list." Be careful though... one person's opinion may differ and you will want to convince your significant other or fellow housemates before abandoning a task on the list.
6) Schedule the tasks. Obviously the important things come first, but by scheduling when each item will be done, you are (1) prioritizing and (5) filtering the list at the same time. By Scheduling the tasks you may find it easier to (3) Delegate some of the tasks or even (4) involve other people.
7) Expand the list. This probably sounds counter-intuitive... Aren't we trying to shorten the list? Actually, by taking quick walk around your home you will inevitably find even more things that need to be done. You would have found these later anyways, so why not see if you can combine them with some of the activities you are doing now? Plus, if you are going to delegate it would be better to have a larger chunk of work to offload so that it is done more efficiently. On top of that, by
getting more things on the list, you will
get more things done (using the tips shown here). This will give you an incredible sense of accomplishment and save you "Honey Do" work in the future when you might want to be relaxing in the Summer sun !
8) Take Five. Sometimes your HoneyDo list has gotten so big that it is overwhelming. Where do you start? Rather than worry about all the things on the list, just pick one thing and commit yourself to do only 5 minutes worth of work. Usually you will find that once you get started, you will continue working on the task until it is done. But even if you don't finish... you will have made progress on the task and it will be that much closer to completion.
9) Stress Relief. Do you have stress in your life? Of course you do. Everyone does... but the key is how they deal with it. Why does this relate to "Trimming Your Honey Do List"? If you list is long enough, there is probably some tasks on there which require simple, repetitive motions and very little analytical thought. These tasks can be an excellent source of stress relief since you simply need to focus on the repetitive task and not on the other things in your life that might be stressing you out. A little relaxing music in the background during the task would not hurt either !
10) Sign up at WheelDoggy.com [Blatant Promotion Warning....]
As a Customer at WheelDoggy.com, you can wipe things off your "Honey Do" list quickly and easily. Simply post the tasks you don't want to do on the site and Helpers will bid to complete your tasks. You get to decide which Helper you choose... the lowest priced? Or the highest rated? Maybe one that specializes in the task you want done. Either way, you win by getting vendors to compete for your business.
Did you find this list helpful? Let us know in the comments and be sure to add any ideas you might have as well.
WheelDoggy.com has officially "hired" a new spokes"person"... 
