WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU ARE FEELING OVERWHELMED WITH TASKS

We’ve all been there, days when everything feels a little too much. Maybe work gave you a new project or life just handed you one more lemon. The temptation for many of us is just to want to avoid the situations that are causing us stress. Of course, that often leads to greater problems later. So while avoidance may help us feel a little better right now, it often leads to us feeling guilty, overwhelmed, and behind later. Avoidance can also have more concrete negative consequences if deadlines are missed. So how do we handle it?

1) Handle your anxiety: Before we can get anything done it is important to get our minds and bodies into a calmer state rather than one of anxiety and panic. “But Dr. Flo I don’t have time for that” you might say. The truth is that we can make time for a little break, and often little breaks help us be more productive with our time later. So take a literal minute to do some deep breathing. Drink a glass of water, stretch your body, say an affirmation, go for a walk if you need it. Remind yourself that you can take charge of your situation. Often it by taking a meaningful break we can re-group faster than you’d imagine. Once you’ve slowed your heart rate, and taken a second let's jump into making an action plan.

2) Identify the tasks: If you can identify the pattern of avoidance it becomes easier to break it. Similarly, we often feel overwhelmed by the things we have to do because we see them all as a big conglomerate. So instead break down the tasks so you know exactly what you have to do. You can do this in a list, plop them into your calendar, use sticky notes, an excel sheet, or whatever system works best for you.

3) Prioritize: Often tasks are overwhelming because we don’t know where to start. In reality, not all things are equally important. Some tasks may be urgent/time-sensitive, some tasks may be important, and some may be both or neither. Not every urgent task is important, and not every important task is urgent. Sometimes this means that we end up filling our schedule with urgent but unimportant tasks which leads to bigger problems long term. By identifying the urgency and importance of each task you will be better able to decide which tasks need to get done first, which tasks can be delegated, or delayed, and which tasks need special attention so they don’t get forgotten.

4) Schedule: Once you have prioritized your tasks, try to set up a schedule so you can see when things can get accomplished. When first scheduling tasks it is important to budget some wiggle room so that if things take longer than expected you can accommodate for that. It is also important that your schedule is not so overbooked that you don’t have time to breathe, eat meals, or otherwise relax. After all, if you don’t take care of yourself, you won’t be able to get anything done.

5) One at a time: Once you have done your prep work the trick is to avoid avoidance and just start. Sometimes it is best to pick an easy task, or a short one. This can help give you a sense of mastery and completion. Use that momentum to continue working through the rest of your tasks. When you feel overwhelmed refer back to your list of tasks and your schedule. If you need a break, TAKE A BREAK; however, don’t let that break morph into avoidance. Setting a timer for a break can be helpful with this. Because the hardest step in completing a task is often starting the task make deals with yourself to just take it a step at a time. If a task is still too overwhelming, break it down into even smaller steps if you need to.

These steps can be very helpful when you start feeling overwhelmed with the number of tasks you have to do. But some extra tips to remember is that it is okay to ask for help or extensions. It is not only okay to take breaks and rest, but they are also essential. Being mean to yourself (or others) is not the best way to get things done, instead try being kind, encouraging, and patient. And finally, remember to reward yourself, doing hard things (even if you had to do them anyway) can always feel a little better if we have something to look forward to, Like Mary Poppins used to say, “a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down.” I believe you can do it, just take a deep breath, and take it a step at a time.