Planning, thinking, and agonizing by themselves lead to one thing. Nothing!
I have a lot going through my mind right now, and sometimes it’s just plain hard to get myself to get moving on work I want to get done.
I bet you’ve been there. You’re juggling multiple projects for your job, you have family obligations, and you have side projects hanging around that have been on hold for months. You’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to get started. It can be paralyzing!
Usually I find myself staring blankly into space with a laundry list of things I need to get done racing through my mind, but I have found a few simple steps to stop thinking and start doing.
1. First, relax and refocus (30 seconds)
Don’t let the feeling of being overwhelmed get a hold of you. As simple as it sounds, a few deep breaths is an amazing way to relax and refocus. I close my eyes for about 30 seconds and imagine a happy place, and I take 5 to 10 deep breaths. Inhale through your nose for 5 seconds, hold your breath for 1 second, and exhale through your nose for another 5 seconds. Breathe with your diaphragm. You should feel your stomach expand and contract as you breathe. You can use this any time you feel overwhelmed, and better yet, it’s free!
2. Try writing it down (less than 5 minutes)
Writing a list of to-do items can get that garbled mess of ideas out of your head and onto a piece of paper where you can organize and prioritize what needs to get done. Lifting the burden of remembering everything you need to do will allow your mental energy to focus on actually executing on your action items. Spend no more than 5 minutes on this step.
3. Pick one thing on your list and commit to work on it for 15 mins.
I procrastinate often because I don’t know where to start. To work myself out of this paralysis, I tell myself that even though I’m not sure where to start, I’m just going to start. I pick one thing on my list, and just start working on it. I have found that once I focus on just one thing for a short period of time, I either build momentum and get more done than I expected or realize that something else is more important and adjust my time accordingly. The key is to build momentum and usually that momentum leads to getting things done.
Just taking that first step gets your mind and focus pointed in the right direction. Once the wheels in your brain start turning, it’s a lot easier to get in a groove and actually start getting things done!
Agree. You can prioritize the list and start at the top too.