School season is almost upon us.
That means summer vacations are wrapping up, fall sports are kicking off, school clothes shopping is happening, and school schedules are making their way into kids hands.
All of that can get a little overwhelming.
And not just for the kids.
Us parents get to manage it all.
While, somehow, holding down the fort – you know, bringing home the bacon, cooking the bacon, cleaning up the bacon mess, all that good stuff.
(Or getting our kids to do it, which is usually even more work.)
Feeling overwhelmed yet?
If so, here’s the trick to overcome it.
But first, a little side note: you overcome feeling overwhelmed, you don’t avoid it.
Life happens, it has its ebbs and flows, it crests and dips. And there will be times when you naturally feel overwhelmed. Maybe you signed up for too many “things” and now you’ve got to deal with them all.
Or maybe life signed you up, without asking permission.
Regardless, the trick to dealing with it all is still the same.
And it’s the opposite of what you might think.
The trick is not making a list of everything you need to do, though that might help.
And it’s not prioritizing everything in order of importance, but that’s not a horrible idea. Just don’t go tackle things in order of importance. You’ll fail.
Nope, the trick is to accept your overwhelmed feelings and overcome them by doing the easiest thing first.
That’s it. Do the easiest thing.
It may not seem urgent. It may not make a huge difference when it’s done.
But you’ll immediately feel better. Because it’s the easiest thing, it won’t take long at all.
And you’ll now have some momentum.
Embrace that, and do the next easiest thing.
Ignore the voice that is telling you the urgent stuff will fall through the cracks. You will get to it, even though you’re freaking out now.
Ignore the voice that is telling you the task you just finished won’t matter. It will.
Momentum is real. As you build it, you’ll become unstoppable.
But way before then, you’ll stop feeling overwhelmed.
Until next time …
P.S. If even the easiest thing on your list seems daunting, add one more item to your list:
Break the easiest thing into smaller pieces
Then repeat as needed.
P.P.S. You may be feeling overwhelmed only because you’re trying to tackle the hardest task first.
Sometimes the feeling will go away as soon as you do something else, or break it into smaller pieces.