Overwhelm is a feeling that seems to come at us in waves. Life keeps coming at you and adding things to your plate. It’s like you’re being buried or weighed down by all this STUFF. Eventually, you just feel completely swamped, and if you keep overwhelm with you for a while, you start to feel defeated.
Not good.
Life happens, things come at you, but you shouldn’t have to feel the weight of overwhelm continuously throughout your life.
Let’s be preventative instead of reactive.
The following is a piece of a 3-part collection consisting of 3 Quick Tips To Prevent Overwhelm. Each one builds on the next, so make sure you read all the way through. I hope these tips help you prevent the cycle of overwhelm!
#1 Limit your number of tasks.
You can’t do all the things. Especially not all at once. On any given day I’m sure to have MULTIPLE main tasks that need to be done. NOT going to happen. Not when there’s kids’ appointments, school, business and other factors. I’ve learned that I have to limit the number of tasks I do. Depending on the size of the task – I may only get 1 task done a day.
Look at the complexity of your tasks, based on the time you have available, tell yourself that “today, I will do x, y, z”. Some days it may only be “x” – and that’s okay. There are only 24 hours in a day and you can’t do all the things. But about those things you CAN do….check out tip #2.
#2 Prioritize.
Sure, it’s kind of easy to limit the tasks you do everyday in order to reduce the feeling of overwhelm – NOT! Hey, you have to do it though; and this will make it easier.
Prioritize.
We are going to treat your tasks just like they do in the hospital emergency room. There, a person with a broken arm gets seen faster than someone that comes in with pink eye. In your life, what’s of the utmost importance, like it needed to be done yesterday? What’s something minor that can be pushed down the calendar?
Think about it, write it down, get it done – but not until you learn about the third tip on preventing overwhelm….
#3 Set Deadlines.
So you’ve reduced your tasks and prioritized them in terms of importance. Now it is imperative that you set some deadlines. Deadlines will keep you focused on the task at hand, it’ll keep you on track and overall will allow you to complete more tasks in the long run.
There’s a reason people set deadlines, to light a fire under our butts and keep us moving forward. Use that to your benefit.
Now I couldn’t leave you without giving you another tip – here’s a little bonus from me to you. You’re welcome.
#4 Be accountable to someone or something.
Write your tasks with your deadlines down in your notes section, on a planner, in your calendar on your phone. It’s even better if you use something that has notifications – it’ll help keep you focused in the right direction.