I guess my biggest problem is keeping track of maybe 30-40 little projects that can’t be done immediately and need a few steps to them. I get anxious keeping on top of them and can feel overwhelmed.

Help! Any ideas?

John – UK

Here’s my answer to John.

Hi John

Thanks for writing!

Yes, I do have some ideas.

1. Make a master to-do list of all those projects (there’s a form in the Organising Success Pack for you to use)
2. Can you delegate any? If yes, then definitely do so!
3. Now choose the top 1 – 3 projects in terms of priority and schedule some time to work on them over the next month. If you’re not sure about how long they’ll take, add some buffer time in.
   Keep chipping away at your list every month, and then every week.
4. Break out of overwhelm, might also help you as will Big, juicy goals which you get when you sign up for the Gold VIP Inner Circle.

Let me know if you need any further help!

1. I decided to go out even though I felt like I should be working to try and catch up. Had a great evening and totally forgot about all my “problems”.
2. I printed out 10 of my master to do lists and used one page for each of my projects.
3. I wrote down every single little thing I had to do – phone x, send email to y, check z on website, etc, etc. Somehow seeing it all and getting it out of my head freed me.
4. The next day I had another blood test so had another short day. But this time, armed with my lists, I just focussed and ploughed through those lists.
5. I actually finished all those tasks in about 3 hours and was on track again.

So you see even a time management coach also goes through periods of overwhelm and craziness

How do you cope with overwhelm?

P.S. Check out how you can break out of overwhelm