'No, because I'll be away on business\/this is my busy time\/I have a conflict.'<\/b> This type of no gives a concrete reason why and takes the blame off you, so it's a tempting response. One problem, though: It opens up a hole for comebacks like, "Then we'll wait for you to get back into town!" Save this one for situations where bad timing really is the problem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nStep 3: Peel the onion<\/b>
Sometimes we agree to tasks rated 3 through 5 even though they add to our already-heavy load. Why? Brown recommends "peeling the onion"—digging deep to understand your true motivation. Often, it comes from a personal priority or strength: Maybe you're devoted to family, so when you agree to pick up your mother-in-law from the airport, you're expressing a value that's important to you. Or maybe you're a whiz with words, so when you say you'll edit your friend's resume, you're seizing the chance to shine! Tasks become less burdensome when you recognize that they feed your soul in some way.<\/p>\n
Step 4: Aim for OK<\/b>
Make this your goal for activities, rated 6 through 8, that you enjoy but don't have time to execute perfectly. "How good does something need to be?" Domar asks. "I'd rather have an employee turn in something on time that's just fine than turn in something a week late that's really good."<\/p>\n
So host a party and buy appetizers at Costco instead of staying up all night cooking from scratch. Meet your old boss for lunch (and a little networking!), but go somewhere casual so restaurant service doesn't swallow up your day. "This frees you up to move on to the next thing," says Domar—even if that next thing is lying on the sofa zoning out to HGTV.<\/p>\n
Step 5: Make the time<\/b>
Taking a ceramics class, check! Meeting girlfriends for Friday happy hour, check! Activities rated 9 or 10 are things that give you true joy, and it's worth ditching the dead weight so you can make time for them. Don't ever feel guilty about these soul-nourishing activities: They'll see you through life's more tedious obligations, so even if you're technically super busy, your life will still feel light and full, all at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getty ImagesWhen it comes to moments for myself, I'm not asking for much. I'd like to get a haircut, lounge in the backyard with a book, maybe have dinner out with my husband. Luxuries? Hardly. And yet, with my mile-long to-do list, I can't get to them. I'm not alone in feeling overscheduled and overstressed. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}