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For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the ""Done!"" podcast:

New things keep com­ing up

As I under­stood it, this is how it is: a muse­um has a lim­it­ed amount of space — in the pub­lic exhi­bi­tion for one, but also in the ware­hous­es con­tain­ing all the things that are not cur­rent­ly on dis­play. It was explained to me that a muse­um such as the muse­um of ethnog­ra­phy receives many offers of dona­tions regard­ing both sin­gle objects as well as entire col­lec­tions, for exam­ple from small local muse­ums that have been closed. The space can fill up quickly.

Even if there is room, there might still not be space

Instead of hav­ing to do mas­sive clean-out ses­sions once in a while, the muse­um applies the prin­ci­ple of ​“sift­ing out at the source”, which means that one is very picky regard­ing what is accept­ed in the first place. Even if there is still room left in the stor­age halls, one might still not accept what is offered.

This is a prin­ci­ple you and I can apply as well when it comes to our work­load. Even if we tech­ni­cal­ly have room for more tasks, we might still be wise not to accept doing what we are offered to do.

If we accept doing things that we would not nor­mal­ly agree to do if we were short on time sim­ply because we now hap­pen to have time, we risk not hav­ing time to do the even more impor­tant things we will soon real­ize we have to do or get asked to do.

Do this

If you often find your­self hav­ing more to do on your to-do list than you actu­al­ly have time for and have to pri­or­i­tize to cope, start sift­ing at the source.

When you think of some­thing you could poten­tial­ly do, when some­one sug­gests you do some­thing, or when you are asked to take respon­si­bil­i­ty for some­thing get­ting done, be picky. Be selective.

Say yes if it sin­cere­ly con­tributes to the path you have cho­sen to take — mean­ing, if it actu­al­ly helps you attain your goals or is with­in the scope of tasks, mile­stones, or what­ev­er else you want to achieve in the next while ahead. If it does not, polite­ly decline (if you can).

By all means, give it a thumbs up if you find it fun, inspir­ing, and so rare an oppor­tu­ni­ty that you can­not resist mak­ing room for it. After all, there might be some­thing in the ​“ware­house” you could get rid of to make both room and space for it.

Make bet­ter use of your time

If you sift at the source when it comes to what items you add to your to-do list, you will use more of your time to do what you actu­al­ly want to do. Few­er tasks will lie in the way of what you real­ly want to spend your time doing and you will attain more of the goals you are respon­si­ble for.

What’s your way?

How do you make sure you do not waste time on the wrong tasks? Any ideas, expe­ri­ences, and tips are wel­come to write to me and share! 

( It can some­times be hard to say no — both to our­selves and to oth­ers — sim­ply because it is so tempt­ing to say yes. Can you relate? Check out my tips for a more effec­tive way of say­ing no!)