I always say I am a pragmatic and strategic career coach with a Spirit-centered approach.
This week’s newsletter speaks to both.
During a recent Career Alchemy coaching session, one of the Alchemists wanted coaching around how to better manage multiple priorities.
I shared some of the tools we use inside Career Alchemy Academy, including the Mindset Method (yes, I am certified in this!), the 3 D’s Strategy (inspired by something Martha Beck taught in a separate coach certification), and the 3 VIPs (inspired by Essentialism by Greg McKeown).
Then something I love happened.
The Alchemists began pouring their own genius into the conversation.
By the end, we had 8 practical ways to manage multiple priorities straight from women leaders who are actually in the trenches doing it.
8 practical ways to manage multiple priorities
- Make your accomplishments visible 🙌
Put up Post-it Notes with your different tasks and use color coding if that helps.
As you complete a task, pull down the Post-it and save it.
At the end of the week, look at everything you accomplished.
Because sometimes we are so focused on what we didn’t get done that we completely forget how much we actually did.
High five! 🙌
- Let good enough be good enough ✔️
Set aside perfectionism and simply call something done.
Ask yourself: If I called this done, how would I spend the time I just gave back to myself?
Let the answer motivate you.
Sometimes “done” really is better than “perfect.”
Checkmate! ✔️
- Use the 3 D’s: Ditch It. Delegate It. Do It… Joyfully. 🎶
Before automatically adding something to your already overflowing plate, ask:
- Ditch It: If you don’t have to do it, don’t do it.
- Delegate It: Empty your plate. Delegating frees you up and gives someone else an opportunity to learn and grow professionally.
- Do It… Joyfully: If you can’t ditch it or delegate it, accept that it is yours to do and find a way to make it more enjoyable.
Play music. Go to your favorite café. Create a reward board for completion.
You may have to do it, but maybe you don’t have to hate doing it.
Happy Feet!🎶
- Remember OHIO: Only Handle It 1️⃣
An oldie but a goodie.
How many times have you read an email and thought, “I’ll get back to that later,” and then found the task running around in your brain for the next three days?
With OHIO, when possible, decide in the moment what you are going to do with it … no waiting or hesitating.
Respond. Schedule it. Ditch it. Delegate it. Do it … joyfully. (see what I did there)
Once is enough! 1️⃣
- Choose your 3 daily VIPs 📋
Your 3 Daily VIPs (Very Important Priorities) is a process I teach inside Career Alchemy Academy.
Your daily VIPs are the three things that, if accomplished, have you feeling satisfied and accomplished at the end of every day. Yes, every day, day after day!
The magic to this process is that it uncovers 3 VIPs they are not always what you have on your to-do list or what you think they will be.
You can learn more and read how 1 client found an unanticipated bonus to the 3 VIPs process HERE: BLOG
A different sort of to-do list! 📋
- Let technology help 💻
When things start to feel out of control, technology can help you get your priorities out of your head and into a system.
Consider your favorite AI tool or tools like Sunsama, Motion, Reclaim, Todoist, and more. The right tool won’t magically solve everything, but it could help you create some breathing room.
Tech Geek! 💻
- THE BIG ONE: Manage your mind 🧠
One of the most important shifts I have made in my life was deciding to manage my thoughts and steward my emotions rather than letting them run me.
Inside Career Alchemy Academy, we use the Mindset Method to look at what is happening in our minds when we feel overwhelmed, stuck, or convinced that we will never get everything done.
Because here’s the thing, sometimes the problem isn’t just that you have too much to do.
Sometimes the problem is everything your brain is telling you about how much you have to do.
What if you could move from:
“I’ll never get this all done.”
to:
“I have the capacity and capability to decide what matters and do what is required.”
And what if you could do it while feeling calmer in the process?
Managing your mind takes practice. It takes presence. And honestly, it often requires pushing back on thoughts, beliefs, and patterns we have carried around for most of our lives.
That’s why this work is front and center inside Career Alchemy Academy.
Keep that in mind! 🧠
- THE OTHER BIG ONE: Learn to trust your inner wise self ✨
And now the deep dive into the Spirit-centered side of what I do through my coaching work.
If you are anything like me, when you have a decision you are making or a career you are building, your first action is to look outside ourselves for the answer. We ask our boss. Our friends. Google. AI. A book. A podcast. Another expert.
And please don’t get me wrong … I love a good tool, expert, book, and yes…even AI!
But something powerful and magical happens when you tune in to your inner wisdom. The more you practice listening to your inner voice, the more you begin to build trust with it. You start asking:
- What do I already know?
- What feels most important right now?
- What do I need?
- What is mine to do next?
That relationship with your own inner wisdom can become one of your most powerful career and life tools.
This is what I call your Spiritual Intelligence—or SQ.
And unlike another productivity system, AI tool, or expert, it is always available to you simply by getting still, asking for guidance, listening to the response and, importantly, taking the guidance into action.
Tune in! ✨
Wisdom from the trenches
What came out of the coaching call was the immense value that comes when wise women come together regularly to share what works to help create more peace and productivity in their careers and lives.
And it is not always in a way that seems logical and can require making a decision and having the courage to do things differently.
That, to me, is where the practical, tactical, and strategic meets the power of a Spirit-centered approach to work and life.