How to Reduce Stress and Overwhelm (Step 3): Organize & Compartmentalize

Oh man, do I LOVE efficiency. It is absolutely on my short list of the top most satisfying feelings in this world. There are a few things that drive me crazy pretty quickly, and wasting time or being inefficient is definitely one of them. So, when the synergy is going just right and everything is cruising along like a well-oiled machine…I love that feeling, don’t you? 

Feeling overwhelmed is the OPPOSITE of efficiency. When you feel overwhelmed you feel stressed, worried, anxious, and even paralyzed. When you feel like you have so much to do that you don’t know where to start, it can be hard to start ANYWHERE at all. 

If you’ve been overworking for so long, it can feel unfamiliar, strange, and wrong to lessen your load for the first time. Your brain might be trained to think: “If I’m not completely exhausted, then I’m not doing it right!” 

Let me be the first to tell you, that is a lie. You do not have to overwork to be productive. 

Can you read that again, please? I think someone in the back needs to hear it again…

You need to become best friends with efficiency so that you can do what you do best at work and still have time left over for an actual life for yourself that you enjoy.    

If you’re just joining this conversation, Welcome! (…And you’re probably feeling a little bit lost with that intro…this post is the third in a multi-part series on How to Reduce Stress and Overwhelm. The steps are designed to go in order, so I’d recommend going back to read Step 1 and Step 2, then grab some coffee and meet us back here!)

If you’ve got your Step 1 & 2 homework ready to go…then let’s go!

This is where we take the work you’ve done in Step 1 and 2 and organize your results for the most efficient plan of attack!

Step 1: You’ve looked at ALL the things and broken them into two lists: Survival-Driven Priorities, Values-Driven Priorities (and I guess there’s actually a third list: NOT priorities!)

Step 2: You’ve written out ALL your daily activities. You’ve combed through them to see what you can eliminate and what you can lessen. You have edited your lists.

Now, for Step 3, we are going to take that edited list of daily activities and organize it so that you can clearly see in what order you need to do everything. 

(This may seem pretty simple, but what if you still feel shaky? You’ve prioritized, you’ve edited as much as possible…and you STILL see a mountain in front of you. And it still looks big. And messy. It still feels impossible.)

Step 3 is going to start moving you in the direction of possible.

Organize & Compartmentalize 

Ok. You’ve got your list of ALL the things you need to do. The Priority Organizer helps you split them up into Work and Home tasks. Why is this important? So that you can be mentally present at each place. This will also help you more efficiently and productively use your time, because you are only focusing on one group/type of task at a time. 

I know for me, tasks in different areas of my life require completely different types of energy: 

it takes one type to focus on grading a stack of papers or planning lessons; 

it takes a completely different type to focus on doing my taxes;

and yet another type of energy to plan and host my kid’s birthday party.

I do my best, most productive work when I can compartmentalize and focus on one type at a time. My advice: try to keep work tasks at work, and home tasks at home as much as possible. Then you can dial in to the frequency you need in your current context, blaze through your list in that area, and still not feel completely drained afterward, because you still have different types of energy left for those other context tasks.

(Disclaimer: we are teachers. I KNOW this isn’t possible ALL the time…like during report card season, when sometimes you have to bring work home in order to get it done. Or when you need to run out on your lunch break to do a quick errand for home because that’s the only way you’ll fit it into your day. Of course these scenarios happen; the point is to try to make sure it’s not the norm!)

Still with me? Great 🙂 Get a refill on that coffee if you need it!

Next, take your compartmentalized lists and number the tasks in order of importance. This is usually at least partly determined by urgency and deadlines (report cards, I’m looking at you…). Start with your Survival-Driven Priorities: what MUST be done by a certain date or else? Write the deadline next to it and start numbering (1, 2, 3, etc). 

*Bonus Tip: Self-Care

If you’re a little more advanced/further along in this process, go ahead and make a Self-Care list, and organize that.

I recommend using a snowball effect here to maximize your time. If you are challenged for time (who isn’t?), do a self-care task that is quick but will really make you feel like you spoiled yourself. Example: splurge on a $6 cup of fancy coffee instead of making it at home one day. This is a small thing, requires almost no time, but will help you to prevent feeling like you’re just a workhorse.

#2 on the self-care list might be something that takes a little longer (like that long, hot, uninterrupted shower that’s still on my list from Step 1…those opportunities don’t happen very often with 4 small kids in the house!) 

First things first…and One step at a Time

I want you to feel encouraged: maybe this feels like a big change to you, or maybe it feels like a slow start. But either way, you are doing it!

The only way to change your life is to DO something…ANYTHING to begin. Remember, the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. This week I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes, good for so many scenarios in life:

The way to begin is to begin.

-Eleanor Roosevelt