When you’re overwhelmed with everything, getting stuff done and actually completing projects can be really difficult. Like getting a wiggly toddler in and out of a snowsuit level of difficult.
One, it’s easy to feel paralyzed because you have so much on your plate coming at you at once and you’re not even sure where to start. So you either pretend you don’t have all that stuff breathing down your neck, or you engage in productive procrastination (i.e. staying busy while ignoring the stuff that REALLY needs to get done).
And two, it’s easy to get distracted by all the other stuff you’ve got going on, so you end up bouncing around tasks, without finishing anything. You stay busy, but all you do is leave a trail of unfinished projects in your wake.
Both of these scenarios leave you feeling frustrated with yourself and do nothing to lessen the overwhelm you feel.
As a working mom with ADHD, boy oh boy have I been there. Ignoring the little “fires” around me while simultaneously bouncing around projects that I just can’t seem to complete.
But not only do I completely understand the struggle, I also have figured out a simple and effective strategy to overcome it.
So today, I want to share this simple strategy that can help you cut through the overwhelm, create an effective and easy-to-follow plan to crush your to-do list, and actually get the important stuff done.
How to Prioritize When You’re Overwhelmed with Everything
When you’re feeling overwhelmed and you either jump around projects or just feel completely paralyzed, there are two things going on.
1 – You’ve got so many things going on that it makes it hard to either get started or stay focused on one project long enough to finish.
2- You’re not clear on what you actually have to do, so it’s easy to get distracted since you’re not sure what the next step is.
The Clarify & Conquer Process
The process that I’m going to teach you here is what I call Clarify & Conquer. The Clarify and Conquer process will help you overcome these struggles and get clear on exactly:
- What’s important (Clarify)
- What exactly needs to get done (Clarify)
- What order you need to do thing in (So you can Conquer!)
This step-by-step process is simple and easy to do anywhere at any time as long as you have something to write with. Let’s dive into what you’ll do.
Step 1: Prepare Yourself
To go through the Clarify & Conquer process, you will need a few things:
- A place to sit down and write (preferably quiet so you can think, but life’s not always perfect!)
- Something to write with. This could be a piece of scratch paper, a notebook, google doc, or you could use the Clarify & Conquer Worksheet I provide at the end of this post.
Don’t overcomplicate this. Get yourself prepared as quickly as you can so you can actually start chopping through the weeds and getting stuff done.
Step 2: Get it All Out
When your brain is so full of all the things screaming at you to get done, it can be really hard to do anything.
So with your worksheet/notebook/google doc, you’re going to first just list absolutely everything you have to do. List everything that’s been weighing on you.
Don’t overthink and don’t categorize. Just start listing everything out that comes to your brain, no matter how big or how small, that is like “Hey, you need to get this done!”
Your goal is to get all that chaos bouncing around your brain and get it down on your paper (or screen). Write down EVERYTHING you can think of.
Getting all this out of your head, also gives your brain a chance to relax because it’s not like “Ahhh! Don’t forget me!”
Step 3: Organize Your List
Done with your list? Man, look at you. You’re awesome. I’m sending you virtual high five.
Now you will take that monster list and start organizing it into 3 different lists. If you have a blank sheet of paper or google doc, make 3 columns. If you have the worksheet, just follow along.
The 3 categories are:
Category #1: On Fire
These are things that need to get done right away or there will be problems. These are the most important stuff on your list, that depend on your situation and scenario.
Examples:
- Paying bills that are due/past due
- Laundry when you’re down to your last pair of clean underpants
- School deadlines for registration, field trips etc.
- Grocery Shopping/Meal Planning
- Work projects with tight deadlines
- Arranging childcare or logistics
What are the items that realistically NEED to get done ASAP?
Category #2: Important (but not Urgent)
These are things that are not urgent, but are still important and need to get done. Maybe stuff that needs to be done in the next couple of weeks/month.
While not urgent, they’re weighing on you, and you know you need a plan to make sure they get done before they become urgent.
Category #3: The Wish List
These are things that you *would like* to get done, but in reality are not urgent at all. For me, this is literally every single home project I start.
Note that these are things that may *feel* urgent because:
- They’re on the front of our minds
- Are bothering us
- We just WANT to do them
But the truth is that they may not be urgent at all.
On the other hand, some things may not feel as urgent as they actually are. Be honest with yourself when categorizing all the things on your list.
Optional Category #4: The Quick Wins
You might also consider making a 4th list comprised of all the little things weighing on you that can get done REALLY fast. Like, if you had 1-2 hours, you could get everything done on that list, no problem.
If you need a quick win, or would feel very relieved and motivated to get all these little things out of the way, then make this list.
Step 4: Number “ASAP/On Fire” list in order of importance
Now, with all your urgent/on fire tasks figured out, you’ll then prioritize them by order of importance. The easiest way to do this is just to number the tasks in order of importance.
Just jot the number down next to the item on the list you already made. For example, put a “1” next to the most important task. Then a “2” by the second most important or urgent task. And so on. No need to make a new list.
Step 5: Make Your Plan of Action
Next, you’ll make a plan to tackle the things on your ASAP/On Fire list in the proper order.
To do this, you will start with number one on your ordered list and then, if needed, break down that tasks into smaller steps/tasks in order to complete the whole project. Then you jot down the second task, breaking it up into smaller steps if needed.
Repeat for each task on the list. This gives you a clear plan so you know exactly what to do. When you finish one thing, keep moving to the next.
While you’ll start with your ASAP/On Fire list, you can repeat steps 4 and 5 for your “Important, not Urgent” List and so on.
Step 6: Work through your Checklist
With your plan made, it’s now time to get stuff done! You’ll work through each step, one after another, until you’re done. THIS IS KEY.
Making a list with each task gives you the plan, but actually following through is what is going to help you go to bed at night feeling relaxed and accomplished.
As mentioned before, you could also start first with the 4th list (if you made one) and just super quickly knock out all those little things. Then take that feeling of absolutely crushing your list and put that energy into your checklist with the highest priority items.
Download the Clarify & Conquer Checklist
And there you have it: All the steps to prioritize and plan so that you can conquer your to-do list. This process can be quick, but when done well it will give you a clear plan that makes it easy to move from one thing to the next.
While you can 100% go through these steps on whatever you have handy, I did create a worksheet that you can download in order to make it easy to work through all these steps. If you’d like to grab that, you can click the button below.
Questions? Let me know in the comments!
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