Overwhelmed by the To-do List

When you have a long to-do list, it's easy to get overwhelmed by everything you "should" be doing.  There are a few ways to tackle the overwhelming to-do list.  I'll explain my way.  Do you have a different way to share?

If you make a long to-do list on a sheet of paper, don't expect to get it all done in one day.  Prioritize the top one or two things and make them your goals for the day.  Think in terms of "What am I going to do now?" rather than "What's on my to-do list?" 

I recently made a list of everything I'd like to see done in my house, from cleaning to repairs to remodeling.  If I look at it as a whole, I think, "HOLY Batman, Robin!  How will I find the time, money and skills to do all of this??"  It's a lot. 

So, when I started my deep cleaning challenge, I took all of the cleaning tasks and divided them room by room.  That formed my deep cleaning to-dos.  But, again, if I look at that to-do list (the one for an individual room) it's easy to get overwhelmed by my wish list.  So, I starred the one I thought was the most important one to get done in that room.  The one that if I did nothing else to clean that room, it would make the biggest difference.  In the kitchen, for me it was the refrigerator.  Monday was the first day of deep cleaning my kitchen and the very first thing I did in there was to clean out my fridge.  Anything else I get done in that room this week is a bonus, because I got the thing that bothered me the most taken care of.

Separating out the cleaning tasks still left me with repairs and remodeling.  Again, I took the repairs, divided them room by room and then prioritized.  Now, if the one thing that will make the biggest difference, or which most needs to get done is something I can do, great.  If I need to hire someone, I'll take care of that.  I'll probably give myself a deadline for that, because it's really easy to put off calling someone.

So, taking to-do lists and breaking them down into smaller chunks is one way to make things less overwhelming.  Prioritizing and giving yourself permission to do just that one in a day or a week - depending on the size of the project - will also help save your sanity.

Remember, it's not about racing to a finish line.  Slow and steady progress is what you're looking for.