Hey Reader

I am putting off so many tasks right now 😅

Coming up next week, Vogel and I are taking a trip to the UK. While this is certainly exciting, it also means I've got a decent set of tasks on my to-do list

• 10 videos to edit
• 2 podcast episodes to prepare
• A book club meeting to plan for
• This newsletter...and 3 others

And that's just the work tasks 😝

Let's not talk about the other things though; I'm already overwhelmed enough with just the work stuff!

Most of the time when it comes to tackling overwhelming tasks, one of my favourite strategies is just to make them smaller.

This could be by making my expectations for what finished looks like smaller, or it could be breaking down the task into smaller sub-tasks that I can knock off one after another.

However, for some tasks that I've built up in my brain as being too difficult or time consuming, sometimes even breaking it down feels like too much though.

Sometimes I'll have gotten myself into being so overwhelmed that I can't actually figure out how to make the task smaller and more manageable. Or, maybe I know how, but even that feels too daunting.

Hi, that's current-me 😂

Things still need to get done though, so today I'm employing a different strategy that I think can be helpful next time you're finding a task a little too overwhelming.

Let's have a look 👀

The idea - Focus on starting, not finishing

Most of the time, if I'm putting off an overwhelming task, this is because I'm envisioning that the task is going to be really difficult and really time consuming to get completed.

My focus instantly goes to what's going to be necessary to get it completely wrapped up and off my task list, and that seems like a lot of work.

Instead of paying particular attention to the end of the task and having it done, today I'm just focusing on getting started.

Rather than letting my brain think about all that needs to happen to get a thing finished, I'm just concerning myself on what's needed to get going.

Starting is way easier than finishing!

It could be opening the document I need, listening back through the last 30 seconds of the video I was editing, or just deciding what I don't want as part of a decision-making process.

While I'm still a fan of taking big tasks and breaking them down into smaller ones, often the process of formulating sub-tasks becomes a procrastination tool for me.

Not only this, but the mental energy that goes into re-planning a task to make it smaller is also energy that could have been applied to the original task itself.

Changing my focus from finishing a task to just starting doesn't come with the prerequisite planning before getting underway.

I'm not setting myself any expectations about finishing any small part of a task, I just want to get things started.

One of the tangible things I'm doing to help me with this mindset shift is putting the word "start" in my task list.

Rather than writing a task list with full items like:

• Populate finance tracker, or
• Meal plan for next week

I will literally write those items as

• Start populating finance tracker
• Start planning meals for next week

According to my list, I don't need to finish the things (even though that is eventually where I'd like to get to).

I just need to get underway.

Is this the best way to approach my work? Maybe not. But for when I'm feeling completely overwhelmed, it's at least helping me make progress.

Plus, given that starting is often more than half the battle for me, getting things started often becomes getting things done.

Let's take action

For a task that you've been putting off because it feels overwhelming, try to shift your focus from having to get the thing finished to just getting the thing started.

This could be by changing the entry on your task list to "Start XYZ" or setting a small goal of "Do XYZ for 2 minutes".

Hopefully you find it as helpful as current-me is 😄

Until next time!

- Jess