If you are currently feeling overwhelmed-- or you have a sense that you are always behind on what is important, why not take a quiet moment for some triage?
So many of us live our lives without considering the balance between our responsibilities and the resources we have to accomplish them. If we have too much work to have time with our family, or we haven't worked out in a year because we are moving kids around in the evening, then our time resource is over-strained. You can do the same basic math with money, energy, attention, health... whatever you consider a resource.
So... pick the resource that most stands out to you as needing attention. For most of us, this is time. First, create an initial list of the actions that you do that require time. As many as you can think of. Be aware, you will not get them all at first blush. As you write them down, give the best estimate of the time that action takes. This too will need adjusting as you go. Ideally, you might want to mull all of this for a few days until you feel the list is functionally complete.
If your list looks ridiculously overwhelmed... way too much to do in way too little time... then join my club!
Now for the easy part. Just like losing weight is easy at first, it is easy to whittle down the list of actions and the time that the remaining actions take.
Simply say No! We all have things we do without even knowing we need to. If they don't bring enough value, simply say no. These are the easy ones.
If there is something that must be done, then you can ask my favorite question: how good does this have to be? Would I be OK with a slightly less spectacular result... allowing me to put in much less time?
These two strategies are awesome for lightening your load. This is definitely a "rinse and repeat" exercise. Once this resource is better managed, find the next one.
One last thing, remember to check in with this regularly to make sure that the resource doesn't start over-filling again!
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