If we often feel that we are constantly trying to catch up or find the time to complete the tasks that are continuously pending in our minds, how likely is it that’s its due to an actual lack of hours and minutes? If we take a moment to pause and analyze the situation that we’re reacting to, we can agree that every successful and accomplished professional still operates within the same 24-hour cycle as the rest of us. So then, what separates one from being efficient and productive with their time versus floundering and never feeling caught up?
Perhaps then, would you agree that there may be a corresponding relationship between time management and prioritization?
How does one manage preventing overwhelm with all of the priorities they have? How do you prioritize your priorities without getting completely paralyzed? Our schedules fill up faster than we want them to and beyond our influence to control, so how does one ever get ahead of the inevitable jam-packed day/week/month/year? And, more importantly, at the end of said “busy” day/week/month/year, how would you rate the quality of what you actually accomplished? Did you truly get closer to your goals and achieve what you hoped you would?
There are endless systems, apps, and programs you can find about effective time management, efficient calendars and scheduling, and goal setting that can surely help. This piece focuses on the internal mindset of managing and preventing overwhelm regardless of what or how you use any type of management system.
Let’s start with prioritization. For any of your identified tasks that need to be accomplished, no matter the size, they need to be assigned a priority level. How a task is ranked will determine when it needs attention, dedicated time to perform, and completion date. Priorities need a time stamp. Can you assign a timeline to accomplish that particular priority so that it actually gets crossed off the list rather than pending endlessly until an inevitable new task gets added and everything then gets delayed? How would you manage the ever-flowing cadence of new tasks, current ones, and old ones?
Being intentional and planning in advance for both when the items should be completed, and when you are actually spending the time executing them, allows them to ultimately get done. This then frees up your valuable mental real estate and empowers quality of work. Most of the foundation of overwhelm we experience generally comes from the ever-pending tasks that are not yet organized in a systemic manner. It’s not so much the quantity or size of the priorities, but rather they are not yet categorized in a detailed enough environment over a specific time period. Once they are assigned a timeline and position, your approach focuses more on quality execution and allows space for new priorities to fit neatly into the system without derailing your mental capacity.
Accomplishing larger scope and overburdening tasks does take time but also takes planning. Just like the blueprints for building a house, most of the work and the details come in the planning phase and then the execution and materialization of the project follow. It’s just a matter of assembling everything according to the plan. It allows you to enjoy the process more without stress and inconsistency as you go- you’re not worrying about the details because they’re all already laid out. Imagine a Lego set where everything is already organized neatly for you and you can just spend the time enjoying assembling the set rather than struggling to figure out how to execute it in its entirety. This approach also allows higher quality output because it frees up time to dial in on smaller details instead of staying broad to simply rush and get it done. The first step comes from setting time aside to make those plans in order to accomplish the task. This is where we need a little bit of space to get that structure in place- when and how can you dedicate uninterrupted time to start the process and get organized? If we can intentionally disrupt our current state of disorder and establish a neater systematic routine, we create that time and structure to make positive changes moving forward.
How can you then be more intentional about scheduling when you can work on those specific tasks that you need to complete? Identifying the priority timeline and building out the days and weeks to get organized in advance will allow this system to be successful. Where can you establish more consistency? More frequent, perhaps daily, engagement is better than one big chunk of time. Small steps over the long term will build momentum and strong habits that keep you reliable and accountable.
Next, we can focus on quality of work and identifying how to make true progress on your goals and crossing them off your list. Do you ever feel that your life is like running on a treadmill- putting in a lot of work but getting nowhere? Feeling busy and overwhelmed but not really accomplishing anything of meaning? Constantly feeling unproductive or struggling to actually achieve anything you need to get done? The solution is to control as many aspects of the situation as you can. Your calendar and time, your attention and intent, your distractions, and of course limit the variables you can’t control.
Improving the quality of production while you are executing these tasks is vital. Think about how you can produce more mindful minutes or improve focus for each time you dedicate to one priority. How do you increase your ability or frequency to intentionally focus without distractions? When and where? This promotes you to improve the quality of your work rather than always looking at the total amount of time spent.
Let’s consider the delicate relationship between time, overwhelm, and anxiety. If you are feeling overwhelmed or you have a long to do list and are feeling anxious about it, having either ample time or a lack of time can have opposing effects. Some can operate well with limited amounts of time and thrive under that pressure; it’s a built-in focus factor because you have an uncontrolled deadline and you need to prioritize and get it done. Others find it difficult to manage the situation of having more than enough time because the task lingers and takes up their attention simply from being on the list. This is where prioritization and categorization come in well. If it’s scheduled for a future date, there is no need to dwell on the fact that it will eventually get done.
Keep in mind that you can adjust based on the type of task as well. Do you have a project that’s pending, or are you procrastinating because it seems too massive to accomplish? You can either break it down into small incremental steps over many days or carve out larger amounts of time to get as much done as quickly as possible. Generally, if it’s learning or growing skills, smaller incremental progress is better. However, if it’s just a matter of getting something less developmental done, perhaps building out long blocks of uninterrupted time can help you to complete it quicker because you are focusing on the one task without distractions.
This does raise the question of where does procrastination come from? Is it avoidance of the work or a lack of an efficient plan? Many times, we avoid embracing a task not because we don’t want to do the work but because we don’t have an organized and effective method or blueprint to get it done. Can you identify if procrastination for you is more due to the actual workload or not having a thorough plan to start? How many times did you push off completing a task, and afterwards you felt that it actually wasn’t that bad to get done?
Here are other strategies to improve your quality and efficiency:
Leveraging information: According to Jon Acuff, its data that defeats doubt. Focusing on the tangible and objective actions, habits, and behaviors that produce your desired results need to be your priority.
Tracking progress: Making sure you stay motivated by seeing your progress is important. Assessing where you are currently, where you want to be, and acknowledge where you came from supports a healthy perspective. How can you best visualize your progress? Consider making trackers, charts, recordings, etc.
Acknowledge the small wins: This keeps you progressing. Know that there is a process in place, you just need to apply it. Identify the progress you made with other methods on how to reassure yourself.
Amplify what you are good at and focus on what gets results: At the core of it, what gets you the best results? What motivates and stimulates you, what excites you the most?
Being self-reflective is key. Analyze your performance for every priority: What went well, what could you have done better, what could you have prevented. What worked? What didn’t?
Identify your purpose: Why this particular goal or this ambition? How do you benefit from managing your overwhelm better?
Final thoughts about efficiency: Moving fast versus not wasting time.
Being mindful of your pace as you work through your priorities is important because you want to produce a quality result, avoid making mistakes, and complete your tasks at a reasonable rate. If haste makes waste, then moving too fast implies sloppiness. However, we don’t want to spend too much time on any particular task and delay our overall progress and success. So how do we in fact pace ourselves to perfectly match quality and efficiency? I believe they are directly related. The better quality of your output, the more efficient the process is. You are dialed in and focused and effective at accomplishing your tasks. If you are engaged in a quality process, then mistakes are naturally minimized. At the same time, the more attention you put into completing your tasks and getting through your to-do list, the higher quality result because you are limiting variables that can affect their condition as well as keeping up momentum and consistency in an ongoing process.
Keep in mind that your intensity does influence your quality and efficiency. If you are aiming to save time but stress out over the process, are you really improving your quality? Have you ever felt that you worked so hard or worked yourself up so much just to get the same result? Can you adjust your intensity and get the same or a better result and at the same time enjoy the process a bit more? How would your efficiency improve if so?
As we reflect on these thoughts, perhaps feeling overwhelmed is more of a matter of perspective rather than limitations. If we put consistent systems into place and reassure ourselves that every aspect is managed, we do not have to react or feel those negative emotions when we have a lot to get done. We simply follow the process and plan accordingly. Intentional systems that we oversee on a regular basis tend to improve efficiency the longer they are established. Like building habits, most of the effort is in the beginning. Once routines are set, they take less direct management. We feel that we are more productive and start to enjoy our time a bit more.
How often have you said to yourself, or heard someone say any of the following:
“I just don’t have any time to do what I need to do.”
“I feel like I just can’t get anything done.”
“If I can just get this one thing done, I’ll have so much of my time back.”
Sound familiar?