Feeling stressed and unable to focus.
Overwhelmed and not knowing where to start.
A gazillion things to do. Or need to be done.
So little time. No time.
This is your subjective reality.
The objective reality is often different.
Your mind is overestimating the difficulties.
And underestimating your capabilities.
Add to that some strong – likely negative – emotions to exacerbate things.
And you find yourself in a seemingly hopeless situation.
How do we get ourselves out of it?
Breathe, write, decide, act.
It’s that simple.
At least it is for me.
Give it a try – after all, it could be this simple for you too.
Deep breaths – as many as you need.
Through the nose, of course.
Make your exhale longer than your inhale.
That will slow down your heart rate.
One thing down.
Write everything that needs to be done on paper.
Digital notes may work. I am more old-school.
The longer the list, the more daunting the situation may seem.
Continue to write things down and you won’t notice a thing.
Writing makes you focus on your thoughts.
Writing those down helps you clear your mind.
Two down.
Great, a long list of thoughts and actions to take.
You could try categorizing everything in an Eisenhower Matrix.
But I like to keep it simple.
Simple makes progress easy.
Progress is what we need.
Scan your list.
Pick something easy.
Easy = something quick or simple.
Three down.
Get that quick win.
Take the action.
Scratch it off your list.
Or put a checkmark in front of it…if you’re like me and enjoy a clean notebook.
Four down.
Now rinse-and-repeat steps 3 and 4.
Take those steps forward.
Enjoy your list of checkmarks.
And – hopefully – by the time you’re going full-throttle, you realize that most of what you wrote down didn’t even require your time or effort to begin with.
Don’t be afraid to remove items from your list.
Don’t be afraid to delegate or ask someone for help.
Not everything needs to be done.
By you.
At this moment.
At all.
Up for a challenge?
Change “have to do” to “want to do”.
Change “too many things to do” to “so many things I can do”.
Change “I have no time” to “This is how I decide to spend my time”.
Reframe your language.
Empower yourself. Liberate yourself.
You are in control.