Overtasked and Completely Defeated: 3 Steps to Overcome Insanity
This is a blog I wrote a few years ago that comes up in daily conversations. I wanted to make sure to share it here and bring it back to the light to help others who are overtasked. Sometimes, others are overtasking us. However, most of the time, we are ALLOWING others to overtask us. Oftentimes, WE are overtasking OURSELVES! Read my blog on People Pleasing for more on how to create healthy boundaries. Stress is the number one cause of death. I say this because stress leads to heart defects, heart attacks, metabolic disorders, mental health challenges, and causes us to project onto those around us - often those closest to us. I am no less human than you. The things I write about and share on social media and YouTube and here are all things I deal with and constantly have to work through. This is why I share. You are not alone. I hope this blog helps you lead a more limitless life filled with less overwhelm and stress. You deserve it!
As women, we often joke and say we are superwomen. Others call us superwomen and deep down, that makes us feel good. But what is the cost of being a “Superwoman?” We multitask thinking we are actually getting something accomplished. What we are actually doing is driving ourselves insane (read my blog on being busy versus being productive).
Let’s break the cycle today. Read on for the 3 steps I have come up with to help my clients (as well as myself) stop feeling so overtasked and defeated so they can really accomplish more throughout the day without feeling overwhelmed.
We can be productive and not be overwhelmed. I have had to learn this over the years. I was so good at grinding it out, but at the end of the day, I just felt defeated. It was horrible. I am now helping others who feel this way unleash their true potential, get a grasp on where and how they spend their time, and have the ability to achieve far more than they ever imagined. Read on for how we do this:
Take my client, Carrie*. She is a mother of two small children. She found herself trying to do it all. She had to keep the house immaculate, she was going to school, she had to get all the laundry done and take care of all the doctor appointments and everything else. All the while, she was also going to school full time with no real schedule. Every time she would try to get something done, something would come up with the kids or some other unplanned event would occur. Carrie would find herself sinking often. She would have so much to do on a daily basis that she often found herself on the couch giving up. She felt defeated. She didn’t know how to take care of herself when she barely had time to take care of her other obligations. Mistake #1.
To properly take care of others, we MUST take care of ourselves! This is something I had to learn. We tend to want to help everyone else and make sure we are there for others. The problem is, we aren’t showing up for ourselves. How do we break this cycle? We schedule some time in our day for us. For me, doing this first thing in the morning is best. The reason for this is because I honestly can’t dictate what else is going to happen during the course of the day. I would rather make sure I take care of what I need to do to get my mind right first thing. That way, I’m not neglecting myself by putting it off later. This may mean you have to wake up a little earlier, but it is well worth it. You need to find at least 30 minutes to an hour in your day for you. If you are a mom or have other obligations, I highly recommend doing this in the morning before you have to start your day.
Not a morning person? Neither was I. Start by waking up 15 minutes early. When the alarm goes off, make YOU a priority. If you are sleeping in, you are not making yourself a priority. Don’t hit snooze. Put the clock on the other side of the room so you have to get up to turn it off. This is what I did. It works. Eventually, you bump the time to another 15 min, then another, then another, until you have plenty of time for you first thing. See how much better your day is. Now, with that all said, it also means you have to get to bed earlier. Read on for tips on that.
Make a list, but put NO MORE THAN THREE TASKS on your to-do list. Why? You have ENOUGH going on as is! Again, you have NO IDEA what you will encounter during the course of the day. Prioritize your list. Only put things on your list you HAVE to get done that day. If you’re in school, schedule 20-30 minutes toward your school work. Don’t put your school work off for the last minute. You will regret it! Believe me! If you have a list of things you need to get done for the week, figure out which days you are going to work on those things. Fact is, multitasking doesn’t work. You end up starting things and never finishing any of them. Make sure you finish the most important tasks before you start others. If there are two things you can do at the same time (i.e., laundry/schoolwork), do those, but if something takes you away from the other thing completely, that is not going to help your cause. Again, these are things I learned the hard way. I am sharing them with you because it’s what I have found to work. I have shared it with my clients and friends and all of them are having amazing results by implementing these tactics into their own lives. So try it out.
Be consistent. Don’t give up before you get started. Anything new takes time to get it down. If this doesn’t work at first, keep trying. Have a routine. You have more time in your day than you realize. Maximize it. It’s not difficult. It just takes effort. Build your schedule the day before (or on Sundays if possible). Leave room for things to come up. When you complete your tasks, you will feel so much more satisfied.
It’s time to ditch the days of feeling overwhelmed and overtasked. If I can do it, anyone can. Remember, it takes effort. You have to WANT to implement new things and know it will work. You have to BELIEVE in it. All it takes is adding some better habits to your day and you may just find that you are superwoman! You may also find that you are mentally able to help others a whole lot better because you are now taking care of YOU.
I’d love to hear your feedback! Have you tried any of these things and found it to make a huge difference in your life? I’d love to hear about it! Feel free to comment below and engage in the community. We are ALL works in progress. All we have to do is scale it back, take a look at what we are doing, and make put the effort into the portions of our lives we need to examine the most. If you’re not where you want to be and would like help getting past your road blocks, please reach out and let’s get you on my schedule. I would love to share more with you about tactics I have used in my own life to help me in my day-to-day life. It’s not about perfection, but progress. If you are progressing, you are accomplishing more than you did yesterday. Give yourself some credit. You don’t have to do everything. You do have to stay sane so that you can accomplish your tasks without feeling defeated.
*Name change to protect client privacy
