By Janet Alkema, Time Management Expertโฆ
I think we are all feeling a little overwhelmed right now. When will the lockdown end? When will my child go back to school? Do I want to go back to the office? A million questions, but no concrete answers. We don’t have a new routine, we hold onto the old one, yet that doesn’t serve us in this situation. What does this lead to? Confusion, fear self-doubt, should I be doing something else, anxiety, I’m inefficient. Aaaaghh.
That uncertainty, not knowing what to do is when overwhelm sets in โ you know there is much you could be doing, a lot that you should be doing, but then it all gets too much โ and you do from neither list!
Here are five ways to help you get back on track and end the day feeling positive about what you have accomplished โ not negative and beating yourself up over what you should have been doing โ instead of โฆโฆ well, whatever it was that you did instead!
1. Where does this overwhelm come from? Who is putting the pressure on you to do all of these things clogging up your brain? Is it your Clients? Managers? Family? Or even just you? Yes, we are often the cause of our discomfort!
2. Take time โ yes, it will take time โ to write down all the things currently spinning around inside your head โ capture them like butterflies in a net.
3. Then, and this is radical, decide which ones you can delete โ for now at any rate. Seriously, if you added up the time it would take you to accomplish everything on that list, it might take several weeks! If it can wait a couple of weeks โ strike it off the current plan and set it for a future time. Phew, one less thing to worry about!
4. Next, look at whether anyone can help you with some of the tasks on your list โ even simply engaging someone’s support will help you focus on the job. You will be forced to set out a mini-plan for its accomplishment and will be accountable for your part in its completion.
5. Finally, each day, or the night before, create a short, hot-topic list of no more than three things you absolutely must accomplish that day โ tasks that you can look forward to ticking off the list, jobs that will guarantee progress with your projects. You will be amazed at how motivated you will feel to continue once you have your top three on the way to completion.
Those are my 5 favourite ways of overcoming overwhelm โ there are many more โ I would love to know what yours are.
Janet is a time management and productivity coach. She is passionate about helping small business owners and senior corporate managers thrive within their work by using their time in a way that adds tangible value to their company and life. She has had the privilege of working with many leaders in the City of London, she uses the tools and techniques that she learnt there combined with her professional qualification; Personal Performance Diploma (Life Coaching) from the Coaching academy to deliver outstanding results for her clients.
