Have you ever been overwhelmed with tasks to do? I know I have! My wife and I run 2 growing businesses and we just started a not-for-profit. There is A LOT to do and on top of that, we have home life and church. Are we busier than everyone else?
In some ways, yes and others no. Business-wise we’re busier than the average 9-5 worker, but we don’t have 4 kids in sports and we aren’t super social due to having a social job. We own a CrossFit Gym and a Nutrition business. Everyone is busy and everyone can have things start to pile up.
When this happens and you have a ton of stuff to do you can end up getting close to nothing done. I’ve been there. I have social media posts, lead follow up, workouts, coaches’ meetings, sales, bookkeeping, and the list goes on.
If I don’t have a list of tasks to complete I tend to get frustrated and overwhelmed. So much so, I can just sit and overthink things to the point I don’t get much done. I get stressed and anxious the more I think about the things I still need to get done.
I’ve learned and I’m still learning that you can only control what you can control and if something doesn’t get done, it’s ok. I consider myself to be extremely diligent with tasks. If something needs to get done I do it right away. I hate putting things off.
The best thing I think you can do when you start to get overwhelmed with things you need to do is this:
Pick 2-3 things you need to get done for the day. Write it down and do them. Don’t move on to the next until the first thing is done. If it’s a huge task, sure, you might just have one for the day. You could have 5 small tasks, but you get the picture.
Write it down. Do it. Cross it off.
There’s something about writing it down and crossing it off that helps you feel accomplished. It’s a great confidence builder seeing the things you needed to do get marked off.
The next time you start feeling things pile up on you, stop, write down a few things you need to do, and start over. Don’t let your mind get overwhelmed with a to-do list.
Often times the things we think are important to get done, aren’t as important as we give them credit for. They can wait until tomorrow’s list.
-Coach Bryan
