Chat

7498 readers

2 users here now

Relaxed section for discussion and debate that doesn't fit anywhere else. Whether it's advice, how your week is going, a link that's at the back of your mind, or something like that, it can likely go here.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

AskBeehaw

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

remington

alyaza

I'm feeling overwhelmed by my To Do list. How do you cope? (self.chat)

submitted 1 year ago by GandalfDG to c/chat

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As the title says, I'm getting pretty overwhelmed by a growing list of tasks I have to do. Laundry is piling up, I still need to unpack my car from a roadtrip last weekend, and an issue I've been working at work has been dragging on for too long.

What are your techniques for resetting and getting through tasks that have been sitting around for too long?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] nonproductive@infosec.pub 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Years ago I was an auxiliary police officer. When I was trained on traffic control they put me in the middle of a 4 way intersection with some small direction and said “have at it.”

As expected, things got very quickly out of control. Horns honking, near accidents, etc.

Trainer said to me “stop everything.” I replied “they’re already mad!” “They’ll be angrier if they have an accident. Stop everything.”

So I did.

“Now take a deep breath”, he said, ”Start over. Think about who can move next. Go one lane, then two, then more if you are ready. Keep an eye on whatever you can so you can react, but stay focused on what you can do now. Who can move? Who can’t? That’s the only thing you need to know.”

I can not tell you the number of times I have felt overwhelmed and recalled this anecdote.

Start over: rewrite your to do list and get rid of the stuff that doesn’t belong there or just doesn’t matter.

Who can move?: what tasks can you do NOW? Can you make them more manageable? (Start with one lane)

Who can’t move?: if the task can’t be done now because of lack of time, resources or things that need to happen first - forget it for now.

Keep an eye on whatever you can?: Can I do this now? Is there anything that will get “hurt” if I don’t do this now?

Take a deep breath. You got this.

[–] Revolving_Glass 3 points 1 year ago

Gotta say that the “who can move?” Is a powerful concept for me. Addressing the list by what can be done now really helps filter it down. I know that if I get started on my list the momentum usually carries through to other tasks, but getting started can be as easy as “that can be worked on now.” I’m not OP but I appreciate your comment!