What are SuperLists and how to use them for maintaining work life balance

Feeling overwhelmed because you cannot find time to take your partner on the dream vacation you promised?

Or kids to the newly opened adventure sports park on the city outskirts?

Or start devoting some time on weekdays to your fave plants in the garden?

Don’t fret, because you are not alone. We all are in the same boat.

Yes, even me, who has written a book — 24 hours are enough — on time management.

Because maintaining a work life balance is quite challenging. The keyword being “maintaining.”

But it’s not really our fault that we feel the burden of so many expectations that must be met

We have been socially conditioned, since the industrial age when people went out to work and you couldn’t bring work back home that:

• Paid work must take precedence over all other types of work
• Weekdays are for work and weekends for fun

If you ponder over them, you will realize they do not hold good in the 21st century, especially after the way covid-19 has impacted our work and life. to

be honest, these are nothing but myths, and let me debunk them for you here and now.

Myth #1: Weekdays are for paid work and weekends for leisure

You can no more divide the days into weekdays and weekends, more so after the 4-day work week is taking the Internet by storm.

Otherwise also you can notice for yourself that there is no discourse about passion projects or dreams, which are neither paid nor leisure. This itself should signal that something is wrong.

The 21st century is all about following your passion projects to turn them into profitable ventures that enable you to leave the cliched “9-to-5” day job.

So stop dividing your week into weekdays and weekends. Do whatever feels on any of the days.

Myth #2: Paid work must take precedence over everything else

Again it is fundamentally flawed.

If I slog my whole life to put my child through college and don’t know her when she grows to be a fine young lady, that’s useless!!

A work life balance is needed to ensure we are not burned out due to relentless work. Or hate our work because it takes us away from things we love doing.

The idea should be to put work and life at par

We are the sum total of our choices.

For me, working has been a constant struggle since marriage. But I felt incomplete if I did not work.

I did try a couple of times to stop working and concentrate only on housework but it did not practically work out. I would become listless and feel resentful towards everyone for not “letting me” work.

You don’t need a degree in psychology to know that those are not the healthiest of feelings to harbor if you want a sound mental health.

TLDR, let us just say that I made some choices that put me in a situation where evening tea took precedence over client calls or delivery schedules.

Since I could not separate my personal and professional lives, I did the next best thing.

I put them at par and started working according to a SuperList.

What is a SuperList?

SuperList is a list containing all the tasks for which you are responsible. Irrespective of whether:

• It is personal or professional
• You need to do them yourself or delegate
• It must be completed this week, this month or 3 years later

Everything that you need to do or get done goes into the SuperList.

SuperLists help me keep sane during the day

When you have separate to-do lists for personal and professional tasks, one of them tends to get neglected or at least take a backseat. Whereas, the truth is that some personal tasks are more important than professional ones and vice versa.

Also, when you know there is one place where ALL your tasks live, your mind is at peace that you won’t miss out anything — a delivery deadline or kiddo’s music classes.

Working with the SuperList,

• I continue working despite absence of as much support as I need.
• I always know which days I can get some focused work done — the calendar for the coming week and month is pretty clear.
• I got my health back on track without sacrificing any of my responsibilities
• Find some quality me time every week.
• Find time for passion projects. That’s how I self-published three ebooks.

How to use SuperLists to maintain work life balance

When you use SuperLists correctly, you will not get overwhelmed by a never ending list of tasks.

Here are the steps you must follow to complete the Superlist tasks:

1. Keep a running SuperList and add all tasks that come up into it.
2. Once a week, prioritize the tasks on the list and give them a rating of 1–5 or 1–3, with 1 being the highest priority. I do this every Saturday because that’s when I schedule my coming week.
3. Find time in your calendar and start scheduling the tasks. If any of the tasks is big (more than 4 hours to complete), break them down so that they are easier to fit in your calendar.
4. Strike off the tasks you have scheduled. This is my favorite part; I love running a red pen through the SuperList task.

I have been working with Superlists for the past 17 years, and these are the lessons I want to share with you. These tips will make your SuperLists more effective:

1. When you prioritize the tasks, the professional ones did not take precedence over personal tasks or vice versa. Each task received the importance it should. You might argue that comparing personal and professional tasks to prioritize them is like comparing apples with oranges, but trust me it works.
2. Personal tasks tend to get overwhelming in weeks leading up to a special occasion. And professional tasks tend to pile up just before a vacation (planned or unplanned). Add every single task that crops up to the SuperList to keep things under control.
3. If something has a deadline, add the date too.
4. SuperList is a place for your goals (that are concrete), not your dreams and ideas (that are vague).
5. Restrict the number of uncompleted tasks on the SuperList to 25–30 at any time. Only after all the tasks are done or at least all tasks that you could complete are done, should you add new tasks.

Create your own SuperList to Supercharge your life

Work life balance is not a goal that needs to be achieved once.

Rather, it’s a circle that has no beginning or end; you must continue to maintain the balance once you have achieved.

If you feel that’s a hamster wheel you are stuck in, you couldn’t be more wrong. It is like the Earth that rotates along its axis effortlessly.

SuperLists are the axis around which you can make your happy and stress free life rotate effortlessly.

So what are you waiting for. Go ahead and start your own SuperLists of tasks you are responsible for.

If you have questions or doubts, feel free to ask them.