- Breathe.
- Brain dump—write out why. Don’t worry about being neat, orderly, or proper. Just write. This will help you gain clarity. Include lingering thoughts that seem to keep reoccurring. Do this even if you think you already inherently know why. Most of the time, there’s a lot more to it than you think.
- Breathe again.
- Prioritize—mental health comes first. In all cases, you must take care of yourself before you can properly get anything else done that’s on your list. Once you feel solid, sort tasks so you know what’s top priority and what’s not.
- Breathe more.
- Make moves—don’t focus on the whole list. Focus on the first top task. Block out distractions. Get started. Don’t overthink this step—just make your inertia-breaking move.
- Keep breathing deeply.
- Use momentum—to help you get the next task done. Doing is easier once you’ve started. Maintain your momentum from one task to the next for as long as you can sustain it.
- Finish this stretch of work with some, you guessed it, deep breathing.
- Relish in the feeling of having gotten tasks done. Give yourself some credit. Remind yourself that your work will never be done. And let grace fill you up so you can mentally check-out and enjoy the next part of your day overwhelm and stress-free. After all, life is short and there’s PLENTY to be grateful for.
- BONUS: More breathing.
Note: Don’t just gloss over breathing like it’s a non-step. Breathing is fundamental to managing our physiology. And if we can take some quality time to breathe deeply and consciously, it will help us calm our state which, in turn, will only help us perform better.