As the title says, I’m getting pretty overwhelmed by a growing list of tasks I have to do. Laundry is piling up, I still need to unpack my car from a roadtrip last weekend, and an issue I’ve been working at work has been dragging on for too long.
What are your techniques for resetting and getting through tasks that have been sitting around for too long?
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Years ago I was an auxiliary police officer. When I was trained on traffic control they put me in the middle of a 4 way intersection with some small direction and said “have at it.”
As expected, things got very quickly out of control. Horns honking, near accidents, etc.
Trainer said to me “stop everything.” I replied “they’re already mad!” “They’ll be angrier if they have an accident. Stop everything.”
So I did.
“Now take a deep breath”, he said, ”Start over. Think about who can move next. Go one lane, then two, then more if you are ready. Keep an eye on whatever you can so you can react, but stay focused on what you can do now. Who can move? Who can’t? That’s the only thing you need to know.”
I can not tell you the number of times I have felt overwhelmed and recalled this anecdote.
Start over: rewrite your to do list and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t belong there or just doesn’t matter.
Who can move?: what tasks can you do NOW? Can you make them more manageable? (Start with one lane)
Who can’t move?: if the task can’t be done now because of lack of time, resources or things that need to happen first - forget it for now.
Keep an eye on whatever you can?: Can I do this now? Is there anything that will get “hurt” if I don’t do this now?
Take a deep breath. You got this.
Gotta say that the “who can move?” Is a powerful concept for me. Addressing the list by what can be done now really helps filter it down. I know that if I get started on my list the momentum usually carries through to other tasks, but getting started can be as easy as “that can be worked on now.” I’m not OP but I appreciate your comment!
For this kind of thing I (eventually) use a basic Pomodoro method: Set a timer for 20 mins and make a start on one of the jobs. You can do pretty much anything for just 20mins - and with some of these kind of things that have been hanging around for a while it could just be a question of working out exactly what you do need to do and getting stuff ready to do it next time etc.
Either way, work at it for 20mins. Then your timer will go off and you can stop and reward yourself - if you want to. Chances are, that by the 20mins mark you may well be stuck in and might just want to push on and get it done - then get your reward.
Strict Pomodoro is to work for 20mins then break for 5 and repeat, but that depends on the situation.
When I start to feel paralyzed, I just do something, any of the things.
Ideally it would be the most pressing thing, but as long as it’s something, I can get in a groove.
This is more or less my answer as well. I remember being overwhelmed by a seemingly unending list of todos before finals in my freshman year of college and was getting nothing done other than stressing about them. Eventually, I just chose something that I was willing to start, and then the next, and then the next, until it was done.
I had realized that the hardest part for me is starting, because I paralyze myself with a moebius strip of todos. It is easy for my mind to think of a list and just cycle through the same items over and over, which makes it feel unending. Eventually I just start, and that also starts a positive feedback loop, and then I’m done and feel much better.
