Sometimes, no matter how organized we are or how carefully we plan, life just takes over and throws way too much at us. When there’s too much to do and not enough time to get it done, we can feel panicky, stressed, and overwhelmed. I’ve developed a simple 15-minute process that can help bring me back from the brink, calm me down, and get me through these crisis moments. It involves 9 steps:
- Take 1 minute to breathe and calm your mind.
- Take 5 minutes to clear your work space.
- Take 5 more minutes to clear your mind by listing everything that needs to get done–don’t organize or prioritize; just do a brain dump.
- Scan the list and identify tasks that can be delegated–don’t be too proud to ask for help!
- Scan the list again and find those tasks that can be put off for a day or two without causing a disaster. Circle the tasks that need immediate attention.
- Pick one of the circled items–don’t agonize about priority: just pick one.
- Clear everything else off your desk, gather the materials you need for the chosen task, and get it done. (Try the Pomodoro technique if the task will take more than 30 minutes or so.) It helps me to put on some instrumental music–I use the movie themes channel on Pandora played through my computer speakers.
- When you’ve finished that task, cross it off the list and pick another circled item. Repeat the process until they’re all done.
- Give yourself a pat on the back, and celebrate surviving the crisis.
Simple but effective!
Your turn: Do you think this process will work for you? Or can you suggest an approach that works for you when it all gets to be too much? Please share your tips and thoughts in the comments.
A couple of helpful resources:
- “How You Can Be Calm Even When Life is Rough,” by Carol Morgan on Lifehack.org.
- “The Perfect Mess,” by Dustin Wax on Lifehack.org.
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Greenville, Texas
I Was Just Thinking . . .
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Shaunah says
March 31, 2019 at 1:28 pmLaura, I revisited this podcast today as I wanted to share it with a male friend. I believe your 9 steps is “tool” that everyone can use and benefit from. It would be good for parents/teachers to also teach it to children as so they lean how to reset a day or week if they are overwhelmed. It could be modified for younger kids but I think it would be valuable for any child as they are learning to juggle school priorities and then outside of school priorities. A possible time to introduce would be when children starts to have homework in multiple subject and definitely before students have different teachers for different subjects.
Deanna Piercy says
November 17, 2015 at 1:09 pmI have been feeling totally overwhelmed lately. I listened to this podcast yesterday, am trying your method today and just blogged about it. Thank you!
http://lifewithdee.com/take_control_of_your_day/
Laura McClellan says
November 17, 2015 at 5:57 pmDeanna – Boy, I know the feeling of overwhelm. The last couple months of the year are always challenging for me at my day job. Thank you for taking the time to write to me. I read your post and thought it was excellent.
One thought about delegation–consider thinking of it broadly. You might not have an assistant or be able to delegate tasks to children or a husband, but “delegation” can include occasional or regular paid services, such as a cleaning lady every few weeks, or hiring a teenager to run errands from time to time–or even calling the pizza delivery place to bring dinner on the days when everything’s been crazy. Anything that lets you buy some time like that counts as delegation, so if that’s a possibility, think creatively about services that can handle certain tasks.
Thank you again.
Laura