How to do more and stress less

Well, Michael and I are back from Africa.

We’re mad frothers for an adventure and Namibia delivered in spades. Sleeping on the roof of our 4WD while lions and leopards prowled around the camp is up there with one of the coolest things we’ve ever done!

But, more than that, meeting new people, exploring their culture, and witnessing diverse and dramatic landscapes – well, it made for three of the best weeks of our lives.

It’s been nice to get home though. We arrived back just in time for our 20 week scan which was really cool.

Crazy to think that our new little third wheel is halfway cooked! The scan told us we’ve got a kid with an X chromosome and a Y chromosome on the way …. yep, it’s a boy! (What, you didn’t study genetics at school? Haha!)

Life feels kind of full on right now.
I’m working on some really exciting new projects in my business, I’m planning for the next round of my online program School of Champions and in the background of it all is the knowledge our baby is gonna be here in just a few short months.

When you’ve got a million and one things to do it’s easy to feel kind of overwhelmed.
You know what I mean? Like, there’s a moment where you sort of just get all hot and stressed and almost crack just thinking about everything that you’ve gotta do? It’s especially bad when you’re just back from holiday and your inbox looks like it’s going to explode!

Well, today, I thought I’d share my favourite little tip, inspired by Marie Forleo, for staying sane and productive – even when my To Do list feels like it might be the end of me.

I shared this tip a while back when I ran my 7 Day Challenge, but it felt like time to share it with you again.

I call it The Overwhelm List, and it’s perfect for anyone who feels like hyperventilating at your desk is normal (hint: it’s not).

Here’s how you do it:

1. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down absolutely everything that’s jumping around in your head right now. The jobs you have to do at home, the projects you’re managing at work, the bills you need to pay, the friends you need to visit. Absolutely anything and everything renting space in your head – write it down. Tip: If this task feels overwhelming in itself, just set a timer on your phone for ten minutes. You can make ten minutes to get this done.

2. Now, take your pen and cross out everything on your list that is outside of your control. Things like wanting your boss to like you more or wanting your mother-in-law to be nice to you – we can’t control stuff like that! So don’t waste any more energy worrying about it.

3. Next, cross out all the ‘shoulds’ – the things you think you ‘should’ be doing. I’m not talking about the things you legally should do, like paying that parking fine! I’m talking about catching up with that friend who always drains you with her negative gossip, or joining the P&C committee at your kids school.

4. Now, take everything you’ve crossed out and delete those tasks from your mind too! You’ve now taken these off your list. They’re gone. Finito. See ya never.
   The only items left on your list now should be a list of the things you either have to do legally(!), want to do, or are things you actually can do – the things you have control over.

5. Now it’s up to you to prioritise, schedule and start crossing those tasks off your list.

Getting on top of your overwhelm brings you back to a place of doing rather than a place of stressing. – Tweet it!

Oh, and one more tip for serious productivity?
Do the worst first.

Pick the biggest challenge on your list and do it, like, right now. Just get it done. Make that difficult phone call, start that major project.

By doing the worst first, you’ll get a real mental boost which will feed into more box ticking, task smashing productivity throughout your day. Yewwww!

Alright, enough prattle from me, go forth and get doing.

And let me know if this exercise helps you – how do you feel before and after making your list? Let me know in the comments below.

Turia xx

PS – Know someone who could benefit from a little less overwhelm? Share this blog with them.