Facing the to do list when there’s too much to do
Let’s face it. Life can often get pretty crazy and it can be easy to become overwhelmed. The worst feeling is to be unable to prioritise anything because everything’s a priority. As a Sydney Real Estate Agency in the current market, every day can feel like this. Even on a personal level, the expectations we put on ourselves to achieve everything or to always be doing something can be exhausting.
We all know the saying “So much to do, so little time..” and we’ve all felt the spiralling feeling of ‘headless chicken syndrome’. Not fun.
So how do we beat the overwhelm, get back on top of things and start winning at life again?
I’m afraid we don’t have the answer, but we do have some tips that work for us. Hopefully they’ll help you too…
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Take a step back, breathe and be present.
Practicing mindfulness is to be present in the moment. To slow your mind down and get rid of the distraction of a million things going through it. There are apps out there which can help you focus on your breathing. Our favourite is 3 Minute Mindfulness as it’s a quick recharge to calm and refocus you – putting the head back on the chicken and setting you back on the straight and narrow.
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Make a list
A list is a wonderful thing. You know how everything always feels worse in the dark? When you’re running around in a circle, unable to see what’s in front of you, it’s no different. Sometimes the inability to see what we have on but knowing that we have a lot, can cause a feeling of panic. You know it’s there and you know there’s a lot but you don’t know exactly what.
This is where lists come in. More often than not, once the tasks have been written down on paper, the feeling of clarity returns. And with a clear mind you can see what needs to be done first. Then once you have this, you can start to see what needs to be done first.
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One step at a time
Go through your list, work out what needs to be done first. We like to base it on the implications and what would happen if we didn’t get it done today. i.e. if we don’t get this done today, someone could lose their home vs my boss will be annoyed.
Then give yourself a big tick once the task has been done. There’s nothing more satisfying than looking down at a list at the end of the day and seeing all of the things achieved. Our personal favourite is a highlighter. You can’t miss that stuff. It’s the proverbial pat on the back.
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Forgive yourself
As soon as you realise you can’t do it all right now and accept it, the panic will start to clear. Go easy on yourself. Too often in today’s world we put crazy expectations on ourselves and then kill ourselves trying to meet them. Yes, you may have 100 things to do but how many can you actually do right now? Pick one task, focus on that and either delegate or defer the next ones until you can.
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Allow imperfections
Sometimes our quest for perfection can be our biggest hindrance. If we spend too much time focusing on getting all of the little details absolutely perfect, we’ll never be able to move on to the next task. This is a time to be strong with yourself, acknowledge when perfection is needed and when it’s not, and give yourself strict deadlines.
In the end, it’s a lot to do with perception. Will the list above get your jobs done? No. But hopefully it will help you to look at it from a new perspective and help alleviate the panic. Feeling overwhelmed is not a nice feeling.
Laing Real Estate is a Sydney Real Estate Agency based in Potts Point.