Managing overwhelm: making time when there is NO time

We start every day hoping it'll be great, maybe even amazing. But then, after snoozing, commuting, sitting in meetings, and grabbing junk food, we realise that, once again, we haven't exercised, engaged with family and friends, or knocked much of anything off our to-do list. Staying up late, hoping to be productive, we manage only to watch TV and check twitter feeds before collapsing - and then starting all over again.

We can do better.

Having a lot to do and having too much to do are very different things. No matter how you define them, a lot can be motivating, but too much can make you freeze in your tracks, resulting in you doing a whole lot of nothing. No matter how well prioritised your tasks and projects might be, when you have too much to choose from, you often simply don’t know where to start.

In an insightful study by the world’s expert on Choice Sheena Iyengar at Columbia University Business School, one group of people was offered samples of six different jams available for purchase while another group was offered 24 different jams, including the six jams offered to the first group. With all that choice you’d think the group offered the 24 jams would be more likely to purchase one. But it’s the opposite. Those in the six-jam group were ten times more likely to actually purchase a jar of jam.

The more numerous our options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, and so we end up choosing none at all. That’s what happens when we have too many things to do. We become overwhelmed and don’t do any of them.

Here are a few key tips to calm your mind and help you move through your tasks when you feel overwhelmed:

First, be kind to yourself as it is absolutely ok to feel overwhelmed and just spend five minutes to reflect, breath deeply, stare out of the window and ease the anxiety out of your system

Second, spend a few minutes writing down everything you have to do on a piece of paper. The act of writing by hand also has proven stress-relieving properties - and then crossing things out - creates momentum

Third, prioritise by deadlines. For tasks with shared deadlines, order them by magnitude, putting the bigger items on top. If you still have a hard time getting motivated, pick the task you most want to do. It’s better to do something than nothing. This helpful assessment could also help you unveil what you’re spending your time on and how important those activities are to you and your organisation and thus filter through low vs. high value tasks

Fourth, spend 15 minutes knocking out as many of the easiest, fastest tasks as you can: quick phone calls; short emails. The aim is to cross off as many items as possible in the shortest time. Use a timer to keep you focused

Fifth, when 15 minutes are up, turn off your phone, close down all the windows on your computer, and choose the most daunting thing on your list or the one that is the highest priority. Then work on it and only it uninterrupted for 35 minutes

After 35 minutes, take a break for 10 minutes and then start the hour-long process over again, beginning with the 15 minutes of quick actions.

Working within an exact and limited time frame is important as it keeps us focused. When our stress is generalised, it’s diffuse, which makes it hard to manage. Using a short time frame actually increases the pressure but it keeps our effort specific, and particular to a single task. That increases good, motivating stress while reducing negative, disconcerting stress and should be able to move forward.

If you’d like to discuss about managing overwhelm and shift your focus to work that matters,  just click HERE to book your call with me.