Day 37-Birds Kanban, Bees Kanban, Even Educated Fleas Kanban...

13-year old: There's nothing to do!

22-year old: I can do whatever I want!

41-year old: There's too much to do!

Can I get an "amen!" ?

There IS a lot to do. I'm the worst culprit of taking on too much. I am: 

• A mother of two, wife of one
• Running a household
• Running a sole-proprietorship business
• doing a year-long course of study at the Restorative Exercise Institute
• writing two novels
• writing one non-fiction how-to book
• the principal and director of a religious school 
• a freelance magazine writer
• a Hebrew school and Sunday school teacher
• a daily blogger
• hula-hoop fitness instructor
• an active volunteer at my kids' school
• a Girl Scout leader

I know. It's enough to make a person want to inject something into her vein, right?


Despite the fact that I am a highly organized individual, I also fall victim to overwhelm. I look at the pile of never-ending tasks in front of me and I freeze. 

Such a pickle! Millions of things to do, and I can't move forward on even ONE of them, because I'm mired in overwhelm. 


At times like this, I simply say "Blurg". 


It helps. But doesn't really solve the problem. (However, I recommend you try it sometime. Just a calm and passive "blurg" expresses so much. Plus, unlike the f-word, you can say it around wee ears.)


So, I had to find something that could help me, and the simplest way to term it is "break it down". 


Duh, right? Of course, breaking something into little tasks IS the easiest way to get things done. I always tell the kids to break it down when it seems too big.


But what if you've got way too many frackin' little tasks? Doesn't that lead to more overwhelm?


You bet it does. 


Enter a solution:


Kanban. 


You say it khan bahn.


I'm not going to bore you with the details, because there AREN'T ANY! 


Yeah!


It's simple.  Some sticky notes. A pen. Three columns on paper or white board.


Ready (to do). Doing. Done.

Seriously simple. You write each task on a sticky note and put it in the READY/TO-DO column. Then move a couple into the DOING column. The only rule you must follow is that you limit your "doing" tasks to only a few. Once you're done, you move that sticky note over to DONE, because your brain loves seeing accomplished, completed things. Truly. It's good for your brain self-esteem. 


Here's mine:

You may notice I have some additional areas: the PEN, for things that depend on someone else to help complete, and BACKLOG, which is all the stuff that I think of that needs to be done but can't get done right now.

Once it's on the board, you don't get overwhelmed. You pick ONE sticky note in your "Doing" column and you do that one AND ONLY THAT ONE. No, you don't get up and do something else while you're doing that sticky note task. You are only allowed to do that one. If you're OCD like I am, this works quite well.

Our brains love the simplicity of one task. We do it better. It's nearly zen. When it's done, it's done, we have a small brain ceremony of completion, and you move forward, tackling the next task and only that task. 


A good tutorial, if you like, is here.


So what does this have to do with walking? 


Wellllll...I was walking this morning and beginning to wig out about the above-listed bullet points of my life, and then I realized that I did not need to wig out, all I needed to do was wait until I returned home, then I could pull out my little pad of sticky notes and make it all Kanban.


Nifty. Overwhelm faded away, air flowed through nostrils and filled lungs, and walk was thoroughly and simply enjoyed. 

For those of you that are not organizational geeks like myself, I apologize for the absolute bore of today's blog. While you're out walking, perhaps you can think of some snappy retort to Kanban. There's got to be some wordplay in there somewhere. 


Yours in 3M, 
Dani