I’m way overdue for a blog post… I decided to take an unplanned, but much needed break, and I’m glad I did!
I realized that I’ve been dealing with quite a bit of self-imposed overwhelm, and it was increasingly causing me more and more anxiety. Thankfully, last month my therapist reminded me of the importance of prioritization and in the days following my session, I was able to be more focused and productive than I had been in weeks!
What made the difference? Focusing on fewer things. Such a novel idea, I know lol. But man… actually putting it in practice? Made a world of difference.
So today I want to share 3 things that I’ve found helpful to give my overactive brain some structure and help me move through overthinking paralysis.
ONE
Brain dump- often. I write out everything that’s swirling around in my mind causing me anxiety… often it’s very task heavy, but this helps because it can act as a master list of sorts, so that I can reference ideas, actual to-dos, goals, etc.
When everything is all in mind, determining priority is hard because it all feels like it needs to get done NOW! Seeing things in writing helps me organize what needs to be done today/this or next week/month, what requires further planning, etc.
When I don’t do this, I bounce from one thing to the next and don’t finish projects. Then I end up feeling frustrated because I’m moving from one “urgent” thing to the next, and hardly ever get to the important things.
TWO
Shrink my daily to do list to be a realistic estimation of what I can do given the size of the project and my energy. This is really important because although I CAN get a lot done when I have a lot of energy, I need to plan for the far more realistic likelihood of having low energy. Setting my sights a little lower helps me to actually accomplish what I set out to do instead of being disappointed that I didn’t get to the 17 things on my list (that was unrealistic to begin with).
A book I started the year excited about (Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results) referenced this principle- setting a small goal and then crushing it, as opposed to a huge one and being disappointed when you inevitably don’t make it. It’s SO easy for me to read and agree that these things make sense, but quite another to actually DO them and feel the effectiveness. But it’s pretty cool when I’m actually able to put it in practice.
Three
With that in mind, another thing that’s been super helpful is to break down the to do list even further. This helps me realistically estimate how much time may be needed for something and gives a boost when I can cross something off my list even if the whole project isn’t complete.
Here's an example- I need to clean my room. That could be good enough to go on the to-do list, but if that will be a large project, why not break it down even further?
-Organize shoes
-Hang up clothes
-Vacuum floor
-Organize dresser
-Sort clothes to wash
-Wash clothes
-Fold clothes
Etc…
You see what I mean? This was a real life example because I did need to clean my room and planning out things like this was really helpful. I didn’t finish everything in one day, but I was able to cross out a few things on the list and feel super accomplished.
By no means am I saying that I’ve mastered productivity, anxiety, and overwhelm- or that any of these are new ideas, I just wanted to share a few things that I’ve found helpful.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been able to move with a little more intention and I’m hopeful that I can start to make progress on the projects I’ve had “in the works” for some time. If you have a mind prone to overthinking as well, I hope you’ve found some of these things helpful too!
