Reducing Overwhelm
Daily Overwhelm
So often I feel overwhelmed. There are hundreds of actions I could take right now, the to do list is massive and seems to get bigger each day, my internet browser is open with a dozen tabs. Some days it can take time to wade through the overwhelm. I switch from tab to tab on my computer, scan my emails and then achieve nothing because I’m lost in it all. This is when I know something is off.
There are three strategies that help me get back on track and navigate the chaos
Setting the context
Having a plan
Focusing on the bricks
Context
What’s it all for? Having a why and a bigger vision for what I am working on inspires me to keep going on the everyday.
Plan
Investing time in setting long term goals, visioning and dreaming on the 30 or 40 year goals then working out the medium and short term goals to get there. I usually check in on the long term plan and vision at the start of the year and create a 12 month plan to forward the long term goals.
Using Eisenhower’s quadrants below (thanks Tech Tello for this great representation of Eisenwhoer’s matrix.) to work out what is really important helps on a week to week plan. Turns out not a whole heap of stuff is actually urgent and important. I’m aiming to work 80% of the time on not urgent important tasks this year.
Focus
Focus on the one thing you need to achieve today. I’ve been challenging myself to write my to do list with the most important thing first and not moving onto the next task until it’s done. It surprises me how much focus it can take some days to just do that one thing before the next.
Will Smith is my inspiration for focus and his idea of placing one brick has been incredibly powerful.
One brick at a time
Will Smith says “You don't set out to build a wall. You don't say 'I'm going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that's ever been built.’ You don't start there. You say 'I'm gonna lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid,' and you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.”
Each day and each moment of overwhelm I ask myself what is my brick today? So helpful to get unstuck.