Are You Feeling Overwhelmed?

I bet you a gluten-free cupcake that you are feeling overwhelmed in some area of your life.  I know I am.

You are trying to balance work, home, and/or family activities and responsibilities. You try to juggle them, but aren’t doing any of them particularly well.  You may feel tired, stressed, and have a vague sense of underlying anxiety….

That is exactly where I have felt the past couple of weeks.  I have a big push going on at my research job at FSU. I have a presentation to prepare with PowerPoint slides.  Never mind that I don’t know how to do PowerPoint really well.  My husband has been helping me in the past.  Plus, I am leading a class for a few more weeks and need to prepare for them.

I did not want to give up my volunteering at my grandkids’ school.  That is important to me, too, because I get to eat lunch with them.

Never mind that the house is looking pretty ragged.  Dust everywhere and what the heck am I going to fix for dinner?

Maybe I am dating myself, but the phrase “Calgon, take me away!” comes to mind.

What is your overwhelm at the moment?

Then I remembered the book I had read, The One Thing: The Surprising Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. (I am not making anything off of you checking it out)  I had read it, but was never very successful in implementing their ideas.  The basic premise is to focus on your One Thing, instead of multi-tasking.  It supposedly is more productive and gives you a feeling of accomplishment.

I decided then and there that I would try it for a day and see how it worked.  Something had to give.

So I set aside a morning – which could be extended if need be- to do my PowerPoint presentation.  No email checking, no blog writing, no Facebook trolling, no stalling.

I sat down at my desk and pulled up a PowerPoint that my husband had helped me with and just started plugging in new data and deleting the old.  I went surprisingly smoothly.  I was focused.  No TV, not podcasts going.  I even taught myself how to “fly in” the information to the slide, something I had never tried before.

Amazingly, I finished it before the time I had allotted for the project.

Then I rewarded myself with getting up, fixing a healthy lunch instead of eating a bar on the fly, and reading a magazine – something I had not felt free to do with so many things looming in the background.  It felt good.

So what about you, friends?

What can you pick to focus on as your One Thing to do for today or tomorrow?  Block out the time and try it.  It really works!

P.S.  It can work for play, too.  Do you need to block out some time for play for yourself or with your kids?  Do it!

And let me know how it works for you (in the Comments section below).

Need more help in prioritizing or busting the blocks to accomplishing your goals?  Give me a shout out.  Love to hear from you!