Sometimes, when you’re working on a project, the number of things that need to be done can begin to get overwhelming. And depending on your personality, this sense of being overwhelmed can lead to waiting to do anything. Or perhaps it leads to working haphazardly, not making much measurable progress.
One thing I’ve found helpful in those times is to sit down and list out all the things that need to be done. Big or small, everything gets listed. This brain dump allows me to get everything off my mind, which is in itself helpful. But it also does a few other things.
It helps brings things into perspective. By getting things written down, I now have something objective to work with, rather than this nebulous feeling of being overwhelmed. Even if there are dozens of things to do, at least they’ve been identified, and I can plan accordingly.
It helps to prioritize the things that do need to be done. Once I have an idea of everything that needs to be done, I can also begin to assess what is most important, and what is less — what needs to be done sooner, and what can wait.
It helps identify some easy wins to keep the ball moving forward. Sometimes there will be simple things that need to be done, and I can go ahead and tackle them now. The whole project may have seemed overwhelming, but simple tasks like making a call or returning an email or running an errand are not. And once I knock them out, I now have a little momentum, as I see the list of things that still need to be done start to shrink.
This last item is important. An essential key to finishing is getting started. And identifying concrete, doable tasks to do make it that much easier to make progress.
If what you need to do is overwhelming, try making a list of everything that still needs to be done, regardless of how big or small, and then do one of the things on that list. Continue doing that, and before long, that overwhelming list may not be so overwhelming — and you may even surprise yourself at what you were able to accomplish.