We all find ourselves staring down an enormous amount of work. Let’s divide this into two categories. The first is the acute high amount of work. The one-off. The day you are facing all the things. The second category is chronic overwhelm. Where every day is filled with more than you can manage and you’re burning out.
On isolated days when you are facing a large amount of work:
Zoom out. Look at the big picture. Identify the most important things that need to get done or be addressed. Focus on those. I do this when I’m looking at my written planner and to-do list. I circle the couple things that really need to get done and move the others to a new day. I also do this when I am backed up in clinic on a particularly busy day. I mentally zoom out when seeing each patient and keep asking myself “what’s the big picture here? What’s the question or need they are having? Let’s focus on that.” It can be easy to get bogged down in the details with each patient or with each task. By zooming out, you can more efficiently focus.
Pick the low-lying fruit. When faced with a huge amount of work, go for the easy stuff first. Go through the messy house and just pick up any laundry. Then gather the dishes. I do this when facing a work inbox that is bursting at the seams. I’ll get the easiest ones done first. Then with each round, keep taking the easiest ones until they are all cleaned up.
Remind yourself that “momentum is better than motivation.” In the book “How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing,” the author describes how momentum is better than motivation. Even if you are not feeling motivated, just do a couple tiny things. This will lead to one of two things. Either the momentum will lead to motivation to continue on, or you will have accomplished a couple tiny things. Either way, this is a win over accomplishing nothing while waiting for motivation to strike.
Say “Easy button!” As you’re approaching a dreaded or more difficult task, say in your mind “Easy button! This is SO easy!” I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is a) fun and b) surprisingly effective. If you approach a task groaning and thinking it will be hard, it will take you longer and be a less pleasant experience. If you go in with a light “this is so easy” attitude, it really will be more pleasant and will likely take you less time.
Embrace B- work. Give yourself permission to do things less than perfectly. Just get it done and get it out there. B- work that is done is way better (most of the time) than A+ work that doesn’t get started or finished.
Divide a large task into the tiniest bites. Let’s say you are hosting the office Christmas party this year. You might approach this by putting “Plan party” in your calendar on a certain day. That’s step one. Done. On that day, simply make a list and a timeline of all the main things you’ll need to address for the party. Invitations, decorations, food, house cleaning. Give each one a date. Done. On the invitation day, break this down into the smallest parts. What needs to go on the invitations? That’s step one. Decide what format of invitation you’ll send. That’s step two. Make a plan for how you will get all the email addresses or home addresses. Can this step be delegated? That’s step three. You get the idea. Tiny bites. Tiny steps. Give each thing its own date on the calendar.
Now let’s turn to chronic overwhelm. This is when you find yourself staring at your overwhelming LIFE. When each week you feel like you’ve gone through a dough sheeter.
Identify the problems. When you are in survival mode, it can be hard to even identify the issues. Take a minute to sit down and list the major things in your life that are vying for your attention. Family, work, house, personal care, etc. Now within each of these categories, where are the pain points? What things are you really getting hung up on? Where do you need the help? Do you need to think about asking someone to help drive your kids to their evening soccer practice? Are you seeing patients late every night and then charting after the kids go to bed? How can this be helped? Can you limit the number of patients you see, hire an extra person to help you in clinic, hire a scribe, use a dictation system, etc? If your home resembles something post-apocalyptic, can you hire someone to help you? Can you hire someone to come in once a month, once a week, once an hour to help you manage all the things? Can you offload any extra volunteer activities or unnecessary meetings and reconnect with your spouse? The answer is yes. Yes to all of these things.
Employ Martha Beck’s approach to an overwhelming list or a dreaded task: “Bag it, Barter it, or Better it.”
Bag it: Do you really have to do it? What would happen if you just didn’t do it? Consider it. Make like Elsa and let that shit go.
Barter it: Can you hire help? Can you delegate? Can you arrange with your partner a division of labor?
Better it: Can you improve your experience of the task? As Marie Forleo says, “if you can’t get out of it, get into it!” Make it more palatable. When you are doing charting in your pajamas, light a candle and turn on some music. When you are in the middle of a heavy full day at work, can you take just a couple minutes to go get something you love to drink? A good cup of coffee? A code red Mountain Dew? You do you, boo.
3. Start doing the hard long-term work of setting boundaries. Take back the reins of control of your life. You get to decide how much and where you are willing to work, what behaviors you are willing to put up with, how much you cook, run, volunteer, travel, or drive the carpool. All of it. You get to decide.
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