Frazzled, fried, spent,

barraged, bombarded,

swamped, woofed, beat,

deluged, crunched,

overwhelmed, whipped,

bent, buried, bashed,

crashed… familiar? 

Well, if you’re feeling like that and you’re not deep breathing, stop here and  click “ARE YOU BREATHING?” I guarantee it will help.  If you’re already breathing (or after you read the article’s step-by-step, and begin to), take a minute to inventory your frazzled self and decide if your lack of prioritizing tasks is your underlying problem.

     Do you keep lists?  Everyday?  [Making a list the night before works best for most people,; it allows you to charge right into it the next morning; of course night shift people . . .]  Does your list say things like: Revise corporate procedures manual, or Clean up the house, or Write new business plan, or Solicit literary agents?  THROW IT OUT THE WINDOW! 

     If you’re going to use a list, and you should if you’re headed down stress highway, it needs to be CHUNKED UP!  Clean up the house can be like painting the Washington Bridge; it never ends, and you will never have any sense of accomplishment or relief!   

     Bathroom: Clean the floor; clean sinks; clean toilet; towels to laundry; replace used soap.  Bedroom: Change sheets and pillowcases; turn mattress; vacuum; repair lampshade; reorganize sock drawer.  You get the idea.  PUT A DATE ON THE TOP OF EVERY LIST!  Assign every item on your list a * or ** or *** (or 1,2,or3) priority based on the amount of immediacy required.

     A corporate procedures manual, a new business plan and solicitation of literary agents are all complex projects with many pieces.  Like the homemaker above, break your list into pieces. 

     Every task that’s done earns a single colored ink line through it (so you know what’s been done, but you can still see what you did).  Leave margin areas for notes.  When you “Call the lawyer (or the shrink) and no one answers, put a colored check mark next to the list item (only cross out what’s done!). 

     Understand from the outset that all of life is one big interruption so you need to expect that there will be many along the way and those should be added to the end of your list (and crossed out as they’re attacked) so at the end of the day, you don’t feel like a schlunk because you never got through  the first five items after 27 interruptions crashed your party.  You need to be able to see what’s going on with your daily life pursuits and what–exactly– you are getting done.      

     Oh, and here’s the hot button:  Everytime you cross off a completed task, treat yourself!  Close your eyes, stretch and take a couple of deep breaths; go get youself a chocolate chip cookie or (better) a piece of fruit; take a brisk (or leisurely) walk around the block (the house, the office); put your feet up for two minutes; get a cup of tea or coffee . . . when you reward yourself, you’ll get more done and enjoy yourself more in the process.   Still spent?  Take a vacation.     

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

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