Overwhelmed? Try this.
Are you feeling overwhelmed by life right now?
I am.
Do you have a seemingly endless to-do list?
I do.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, the top two definitions of ‘overwhelm’ include:
“bury or drown beneath a huge mass.”
“defeat completely.”
Sounds about right to me.
Overwhelm can actually tip us into a more ‘primitive’ way of functioning (I see you, Amygdala!)
Overwhelm can cause us to hide from our problems, our jobs, our friends, our lives.
This is just human nature: you WILL want to instinctually hide when you are overwhelmed.
Unfortunately, hiding results in:
Even MORE overwhelm as our problems and to-do lists grows ever larger
Lower confidence and less trust in ourselves because we aren’t dealing with our lives head-on
Even if you do not think you’re a ‘hider’ (“Dawn, I have a HUGE volume of work and I still charge into it every day - I definitely don’t hide”)
. . . it’s possible that you’ve created coping mechanisms for overwhelm in SOME areas of your life (e.g. work) but that you are hiding from overwhelm in other areas (finances, relationship challenges, family issues or projects, health, etc).
My current ‘hide’ areas: finances and business overwhelm.
No matter what area(s) of your life are overwhelming you, this very simple productivity approach can help.
Why it works: this tool works with our brains to focus on ONE specific task/result at a time, in the highest order of importance.
Here’s how it works (for my fellow geeks, look up the ‘Ivy Lee Method’ if you want to learn about the history of this tool).
At the end of each day, write down the SIX (only six) most important things you need to accomplish the next day in the order of their true importance.
The next morning, focus first on the first task. (Pay attention to yourself here! You may find that you want to avoid or re-arrange tasks but stick with the wisdom of your past self!)
Stay with the order you chose.
After you accomplish the first task, move on the second.
And so forth.
Any tasks you do not get to simply move to the next day.
Repeat daily.
Before you know it, you are not letting ‘urgent’ steal what is most important to you.
You’re feeling more confident and competent.
You’re trusting yourself more than ever.
No more hiding.
