You Can’t Do Everything, But You Can be Really Fantastic at What You Do.

If you’re anything like me, you often start your day with a well-meaning, incredibly detailed to-do list that, in reality, has entirely too much on it.

If you’re anything like me, there comes a point in your day where you just let yourself succumb to the fact that there is no way you are getting all of this done today. Sometimes that point is early, and sometimes it’s not until bedtime. But it’s there, nonetheless, almost every day.

As we go into fall and the holiday season and, you know, having a baby, my to-do list is just going to keep getting longer. The amount of things still on the list when it’s time to call it a day are just going to keep growing. But here’s what I’ve learned: I would rather do a few things really well than do a bunch of things terribly.

Most of us are always going to have more things we feel like we need to do than we have the time to do them. But, we are also always going to have the things we have to do, no matter what.

Every single month, I tell myself, “I’m going to say yes to more this month, and I’m also going to say no to more this month.” I know, it’s weird. But over the past year I’m really learning the value and importance in saying no sometimes. What I’ve learned lately, though, is that sometimes you have to say no to yourself, for the sake of yourself.

There’s a lot of freedom in realizing your priorities–the things that have to get done no matter what–and focusing on being excellent at those before you add in seventy-five other things you would like to do.

So that’s where I’m at this month. Realizing priorities and making my many to-do lists reflect those. If I can’t be fantastic at everything, I might as well be fantastic at the things I have to do, right?

Because I can’t do everything. And when I try, I end up looking like I can’t do anything.

So cheers to a fall full of prioritizing, becoming excellent at the important things in life, and, of course, many pumpkin spice lattes.