The Best Way to Get Stuff Done when you feel overwhelmed - Overcoming Overwhelm at Home - Prioritize

I find that sometimes I don’t want to take the time to do this whole brain dump thing.

Then prioritize it? I fool myself into thinking that if I just roll up my sleeves and get started that will be way more effective. What happens then? I find myself starting one thing only to notice that another thing needs to be done too. I wind up with several things started and nothing actually completed. In last week’s episode I shared that my husband was in the hospital for a few days. He’s fine, but the whole situation set us back in our normal daily tasks. Basic housework things. Once everything settled down I thought well I’ll just dive in. I got started with laundry, then worked on the kitchen and then into cleaning our bathroom. Doesn’t sound so bad. Unfortunately I forgot about the laundry and it wound up being in the washer overnight. Ugh. Having to rewash is just annoying. If I’d done a brain dump, thought through it a bit, I wouldn’t have lost track of what all I was doing, right? And I wouldn’t have made more work for myself and had more time consumed by washing the load again. I also had clothes in the dryer that were supposed to be hung up right away. Now I either have to iron them or wash and dry them again! My point is that taking the time to do a brain dump and prioritize it will ultimately save time.

As someone who is or feels like they’re just starting their home organizing journey you want to be set up for lasting home organizing solutions, right?  In order to make that happen you’ll have to do something different than you’ve done before or what society tells us.

Instead of allowing overwhelm to rule your life and make you feel anxious and frustrated, you can do a brain dump and prioritize it so that you’re spending your time on the right things. In this episode I review how prioritizing the way we’re taught actually makes us feel more overwhelmed and how you can prioritize instead and get stuff done.

HOW WE’VE BEEN TAUGHT TO PRIORITIZE

Are you like I was with my to-do lists? I’d write out all the things - a brain dump - and I would definitely feel better, but I would try to write it out in the order I thought it should be done. Getting through the first 3 things was easy because we all for the most part can list out the top 3 things that need to get done, right?

But then I would think about what things I could combine. For example if I had to go to Target. Since that’s a 30 minute drive to town, where else did I need to go? I was making it complicated, but thought writing the list in order made it so I only had to think through it once. By thinking this way, because it’s what I’d been taught by Google and the “experts” I would try to figure out how to make it easier to switch the order if needed as I was writing the list. Solutions would come up like writing them on sticky notes. That would for sure make reordering the list easier. Even typing it up made it easier. The issue is that it is the wrong problem to solve. It’s a distraction from the real goal - how to get stuff done and overcome the overwhelm at home.

Instead of getting more done, I would make a really well organized list that consumed all my time to actually get the stuff done!

HOW TO PRIORITIZE

So, what do we do instead? You do a brain dump that doesn’t include prioritization. Once all the things are out of your mind, then it’s time to do the prioritizing. It takes less time because you see the full picture. You are seeing everything that was all stuck in your head. This allows you to make decisions based on all the information instead of just small chunks or only what comes to the front of your mind which happens when you don’t do the brain dump.

Now, this process of prioritizing is very simple and I urge you to try it before you poo-poo it because it’s so simple that you’ll feel like it’s just not possible that it could work. If you’ve listened to many of my podcasts you know that I believe that SIMPLE = SUSTAINABLE. Simple will get the job done. If it’s simple you’ll be more likely to do it, to follow it. Right? 

STEPS TO PRIORITIZE YOUR BRAIN DUMP and GET IT DONE

1. Review your brain dump. Do you feel satisfied that you’ve captured the majority of things that have been in your head? If so, move on. Otherwise add to the brain dump until you feel like you’ve captured it all for now.
2. Select the 3, yes only 3 most pressing items. You must make progress in order to build momentum. When you build momentum you will continue and ultimately get more done in less time. Prioritize the 3 most pressing times.
3. Do the first item.
4. Do the second item. Stop yourself from trying to multitask.
5. Do the 3rd item.
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you are done or run out of time.

Remember the goal was to overcome the overwhelm.

This will make it happen. Refrain from trying to complete things in bulk or multitask (multitasking is a myth which may be a topic for another episode).

Prioritizing 3 items at a time is a relief, isn’t it?! You won’t have to number the list from 1 - 100. Thinking about getting 3 things done is way less stressful - or not stressful at all - compared to thinking about getting 100 things done.

Would you like help with your brain dump and prioritizing process?

I would love to connect with you. Go to www.homeorganizingforbeginners.com and click the ask me anything link. This allows you to share with me what you sticking point or specific struggle in the process is then I can get back to you with a solution tailored to you.

Join me again next week. I’ll wrap up this series on overcoming overwhelm at home. Thanks so much and have a great day!

Your Home Organizing Educator,
Tammy