Hello there, it's Rosie. Welcome to Radio Headspace and to Thursday.

As you know, this week is all about progress. And today, I want to discuss tackling that

to-do list bit by bit, in other words, making progress even if it's not at lightning speed.

Case in point, I was sitting at my desk the other day surrounded by books, journals, and post-its.

As I looked around feeling all of my tattoos staring back at me, I decided to go for a walk.

I harnessed up my most spoiled of my three pit bulls and went on a walk around the block.

It was early morning, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and we saw some friends walking

in the distance. As I waved trying to walk in the opposite direction so I didn't have to engage

in conversation and be further distracted from my work, I remembered I needed to go to the grocery

store and proceeded to think about another 10 post-it notes that needed to go on my desk.

There was so much to do, so many tasks, it was overwhelming. In a world where we make lists and

sometimes lists of lists and live in a culture where overproduction is celebrated, how do we keep our

cool? How do we create a routine that allows us to feel satisfied when completing our goals,

even if it's just bit by bit? There are three things you can do every day to help you check

off your to-do's and not feel like you have to run away or in my case walk away when you get overwhelmed.

The first thing you can do is schedule your day that evening before. Maybe it's just creating

an appointment on your phone for the creative tasks that you've been putting off, like writing or

brainstorming ideas, or setting up a do-not disturbed for certain hours of the day that you can

allocate to your tasks. Scheduling that time will make it feel more official, and if you have

the time set aside, there will be less of an excuse to push things back. My next tip is to give

yourself 20 minutes to get into a flow. For example, the moment I sit down at my desk, I do the

standard check emails, respond to texts, read an article or two, then I bring my focus to my list.

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