kicking overwhelm into touch
It can strike at any time. It can turn you into a whirling dervish who talks very quickly or bring out your inner couch potato. You'll probably be stressed and overprotective of your time. However it hits you, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you probably won't be performing at your best.
And overwhelm is not always down to having the mother of all to-do lists. Yes, it can smack you in the face when there's simply not enough hours in the day, but it can also creep up when you're least expecting it. Because it's when you don't feel in control that you start to feel overwhelmed and that's not always about being buried by stuff to do. When you're facing change or a tricky situation, it's easy to feel that life is controlling you rather than the other way around. Lockdown, coming out of lockdown, working from home or not working, let's face it, many of us are facing changes and challenges right now.
But before you let overwhelm take you down, there is another way:
1. Get it all out. Dump it on paper: work projects, team issues, Zoom/Teams meetings, kids’ stuff, chores, errands, fitting in the run before setting up in the home office. All of it.
2. Now sort it out. Look at each item: why are you doing it? Is it because you want to, you feel obliged, are expected to, because you always have, because no-one else will do it properly? What will happen if you don't do it? Cross off anything that's not essential to your health, happiness or financial stability.
3. Prioritise the rest into urgent and non-urgent and take three things in the urgent pile. Break each one down into Tiny Specific Tasks (TSTs), put a time within the next week by each TST for completion.
4. Delegate. And if that means lowering your standards, take a deep breath. It'll be OK. You may feel that no-one will do it as well as you can, but good really is good enough.
5. Be clear about what you want and have courage. If you're embarking on a new project, job or way of life post-lockdown, use the steps above to help you understand what you want and why you want it. Use the TSTs to help make it happen.
6. Try doing something differently. Gain new perspective by shaking things up: take a different route on your morning run, go for a power walk at lunchtime, work in a different part of the house.
7. Enjoy. Make sure you do at least one nice thing for you every day.