10 Things You Can Start Doing TODAY to Feel Less Overwhelmed
Best practices gleaned from Getting Things Done, The Power of Full Engagement, 7 Habits, The Fire Starter Sessions, and my brilliant clients. 1. Identify & make space for your top priorities first. Identify your major priorities and make time for them in your schedule first. Then, make your lower priorities fit in around the big stuff. If you fill up your time with the little things, it becomes impossible to fit in the big things later.
2. Get everything out of your head and into a trusted system. As David Allen says, “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” Get every nagging thought about something you have to do out of your head and onto a list or calendar.
3. If a task takes less than 2 minutes, do it now. Don’t put off a small task for later if you could get it done now in 2 minutes or less.
4. Keep a list of next actions & start every next action with a verb. Keep a list of the very next things you need to do. Each item should be as specific as possible and start with a verb. You are more likely to take action when you see “ask David about timeline for final report,” on your list than when you see something like “final report.”
5. Have a daily meeting with yourself. Once a day (preferably at the start of your day), take 15 – 20 minutes to check in with your top priorities next actions list and calendar. Identify the 3-5 things you must do today to make the day a success.
6. Review everything on your plate weekly. Take 60 - 90 minutes a week to review all of your commitments, assess the past week, and look ahead to the coming weeks. You will catch things that would otherwise slip through the cracks.
7. Use your “power hours” for your most brain-intensive work. Figure out what time of day you are most alert, sharp and energetic. Do your hardest work then & save the mindless tasks for when you’re spent.
8. Charge your electronic devices outside of the bedroom. Get your inbox out of your bed! Purchase an alarm clock if you’ve been using your phone & put your devices in the other room when you turn in for the night.
9. Create intentional time and space away from technology. This can look like: blocking your internet access when you are writing, unplugging from all technology for 24 hours once a month, not looking at your phone between work and when the kids go to sleep, or sitting and focusing on your breath for 5 minutes a day.
10. Do what you say you’re going to do. You’ll gain the trust, respect, and admiration of others – and yourself.
Third Annual National Day of Unplugging
It's that time of year again - the annual National Day of Unplugging. Rooted in the Jewish practice of Shabbat, the National Day of Unplugging asks us to intentionally disconnect from technology and reconnect to the things that matter most to us. Here's the challenge, which lasts for 24 hours from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday:
[box] Shut down your computer.Turn off your cell phone. Stop the constant emailing, texting, Tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you. Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat Together. [/box]
The day can jumpstart a more regular practice of unplugging, something I've written more about here, here, and here.
Want to give it a try? Learn more and take the pledge here.
Drawing Digital Boundaries in an Always-On World
If you’re like most people, you’ve responded to work email while on the grocery check-out line, on vacation, and in bed. Increasingly we are always at work unless we make a conscious decision not to be. As a workflow coach to busy professionals, I get to see both the benefits and challenges of our ever-shrinking, instantly-syncing and always-buzzing technology. The plus is that we can work from anywhere, anytime; the drawback comes when we are working everywhere, all the time.
The truth is that your inbox will still be accepting emails when you die. Will you choose to live in your inbox 24/7, or will you step away from time to time and be present in the messy, physical, relational world?
We have to get really good at choosing when we’re working and when we’re not. The radical act of unplugging – of intentionally turning off our devices for a few hours, days or even weeks – can have profound effects:
- Coworkers will see that you place boundaries on your time and adjust accordingly. By not responding to work emails after a certain time of night, on the weekends, or on vacation, you signal that you respect your own time and that of your colleagues.
- Loved ones will appreciate your undivided attention. A dinner without text messaging and a day outside without email will not go unnoticed.
- You will grow to enjoy the alertness, calm, and productivity that comes from focusing on the present moment without attending to a blinking device.
If turning off your devices for even an hour seems like an impossible feat, here are some questions to get you thinking:
- What parts of your life could you experience more fully if you were to unplug? What are the consequences if you don’t unplug?
- What one technology habit, if you changed it, would make the biggest positive impact on your life?
- Where in your day, week, or year, is it most important to you to you carve out time to disconnect from technology?
No one else will draw these boundaries for you. The only person who can stop you from answering email 24/7 is you. So, where will you draw the line?
3 Super Online Tools for Writing and Reflection
One of my personal goals for this fall is to take more time for regular writing and reflection. To get back in the groove, I've turned to some of my favorite free online writing tools. Each of them make getting the words out fun, simple, and relatively painless. Write long: 750 words.com On the face of it, this site is simple: log in daily, start writing, and don't stop until the auto word-counter tells you you've hit 750 words (approximately 3 pages longhand). Once you've accumulate several days worth of input, the site's algorithms kick in and you can take advantage some very cool bells and whistles. Based on your writing, the site offers you data on everything from your typing speed to your mood and mindset; you can even earn badges for consecutive days of writing.
Write quick: ohlife.com Ohlife is founded on the simple premise that keeping a journal doesn't have to be a time-consuming endeavor. Once you sign up on the site, you will receive an email each day that asks you simply, "How'd your day go?" Reply to that email with whatever you want to write about your day, and the site will archive your responses (which you can access on the site at any time). Collectively, your answers to this one question constitute a record of your days.
Write deep: doyou10q.com 10Q is an annual online reflection event that takes place during the 10 days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur -- but you don't have to be Jewish to participate or to benefit. Sign up and starting on September 28th, you will be sent one question a day to answer about your life, looking back and looking ahead. (Sample question: "Think about a major milestone that happened with your family this past year. How has this affected you?") Your answers are "sealed in the vault" at the end of the 10 days and - here's where it really gets cool - only become available to you one year later (time capsule-style). I'm going into my 3rd year of doing 10Q and can't wait to look back on my answers from 2010 and 2009.
BONUS - Write old school: (Non-virtual) Journal Online tools are great, but sometimes I just want to put pen to paper. My go-to sources for journals are Moleskine (when I'm feeling spendy) and Muji (where my favorite journal costs $1.50). Nothing beats a good old-fashioned blank page.
What are your favorite tools or prompts for writing and reflection?
