Autumn is here! It’s the season I love most because it’s the perfect time for a warm chai latte under a fuzzy blanket while watching a murder mystery movie. I enjoy going for walks with the cool breezes and seeing the beautiful fiery colors of the leaves. It’s also a great time to host friends and family, warming their hearts and bellies with homemade food. 

What I don’t like, any time of the year is finding time for the seemingly daunting things on my to-do list that make me feel stressed. Naturally, our brains gravitate toward tasks we enjoy and tend to avoid tasks we have negative emotions around. We all have things we procrastinate doing for days or weeks upon end that are at the bottom of our to-do list but are subconsciously itching at the back of our minds to get done. 

They are secretly taking up mental headspace with negative emotions. That space could be spent being more present in our daily lives. But it doesn’t have to be this way! My friend recently introduced me to a technique to get those things off the to-do while decreasing the amount of anxiety we may feel toward completing them. It’s called a “scary hour.”

What is a “scary hour”? It’s an hour you set aside every day or every week to accomplish those intimidating tasks on your to-do list. It allows you to purposely schedule time to perform those tasks, focusing on the task itself rather than the negative feelings surrounding it. Pick a time during your day or week that you can consistently show up for, uninterrupted. 

This method is effective because focusing on specific tasks to complete ahead of time can eliminate information overload and allow you to be more productive with that hour. Plus, it works for any task you have to complete in your life. It could be a habitual thing like tackling that mountain of emails, or an occasional task like cleaning out your closet or making an important phone call. No task is too big or small to schedule into a scary hour. 

It’s also OK if you don’t finish the tasks you had scheduled during that hour. This should be something that is part of your daily or weekly routine and the task can be completed in the next scheduled hour. Doing it consistently eliminates the need to rush through important tasks and gives you peace of mind knowing there is time set aside to complete the other things on your list. By implementing a “scary hour” into your schedule, the daunting tasks seem a little less scary and you can focus on the things that bring you joy in your life.