Three ways to take the edge off your overwhelm.
The last thing you need when you’re suffocating under the weight of your to-do list is to be given yet another list of time-consuming ways to fix your situation, so this isn’t it! The three suggestions below are simply small tweaks you can make to your daily life and mental processes to help you take the edge of that mental load you’re carrying. They might be quick and simple, but they can potentially have a hugely positive impact on your mental and emotional state.
1. Tidy a space. (Emphasis on “a”!)
There’s nothing that adds to overwhelm like having a chaotic environment. However, if you feel like you’re sliding into burnout it’s highly unlikely that you have the time or headspace to start spring cleaning your entire house or reorganising your workspace. But maybe you can start with just clearing the coffee table? Or loading the dishwasher? You’ll be surprised at what a difference even that two-minute tidy-up can make to your mental load. Start with something small, in an area that will make the most difference to you, and see how you go. Bonus points if you can do it in time that would otherwise be wasted – like loading the dishwasher while the kettle boils. You get that worktop cleared AND a well-brewed cup of tea - everyone’s a winner!
2. Do one thing from the ‘Low-Key List Of Doom’.
The Low-Key List Of Doom (LKLOD) is comprised of small things that, for whatever reason, seem to hang over your head like a storm cloud of… well, doom. It’s often random acts of admin, like emailing invoices or booking that dentist appointment or (for the introverts among us) making a phone call to a stranger. Nothing that major, but you just don’t like doing them, so you put them off. However, I personally find that the more disproportionate my sense of dread at having to do a task from the LKLOD, the more EPIC I feel when I actually get round to doing it. It’s a double win – I get a LKLOD task done, and a nice surge of ‘achiever energy’ to face the rest of my to do list. And did I mention that I feel EPIC? So a triple win, really.
3. Re-frame your To-Do list.
I decided, when recovering from my own stress-related burnout, that I needed to eliminate the word ‘should’ from my vocabulary. It was a total game changer, and I would highly recommend that you join me in the revolution. ‘Should’ is an insidious little verb that smuggles extra tasks into your to do list and then passive-aggressively implies that if you don’t do them, you are somehow a total failure as a human being.
So instead of letting ‘should do’ bully you into burnout, try recategorizing the tasks on your to-do list as ‘have to do’ and ‘want to do’. Anything that doesn’t fit under those headings is a ‘could do’, and does not need to be prioritised right now.
Need some more in-depth help to navigate your way out of your current state of overwhelm? Want to banish the LKLOD to the dark, sulphurous pit from whence it came? Book a free discovery call with me to discuss coaching options.