Too much on your plate today?
When you have too much to do, it can be hard to figure out where to start. I feel this special form of anxiety at least a few mornings a week, and it is paralyzing.
You might think about making a “to-do” list. DON’T. Make a Dump List instead.
Your Boost
When anxiety about how much you need to do starts making you feel like you’ll never get it all done, do what I do and make a Dump List.
A Dump List is a full on brain dump of everything that you think you need to do, every task pressuring you for your attention, every nagging dish that needs to be cleaned, closet organized, work project that needs dealing with, everything, home and business alike.
Now that you have your Dump List, have a good look. Where is your attention being pulled? Take stock of why you feel pressure to do each item, so you know why you need to get it done and what will happen when it is done.
With this new clarity, choose one. That’s it. Choose one, toss the list in the recycling bin, and get at that first task.
The Science
I came up with the Dump List after reading research on attention control and how it determines what we decide to do and why. If, like me, you have any form of anxiety, a piling on of “to-dos” is interpreted by your mind as a real and present threat, throwing you into survival mode. In this way, anxiety can impair your ability to function in a goal-oriented manner, leaving you feeling stuck, or worse, making you feel like you are a failure.
By making a dump list, you are taking these perceived and exaggerated threats out of your mind in order to assess them free of anxiety’s warped fears. This allows you to focus on one thing and take immediate action. No matter how small, that action will breed confidence in order to move onto the next task with clarity. At the end of the day, a Dump List can help you reduce your anxiety in order to get done what you can with the time you have, and without feeling like a failure for not completing your to-do list.
Take Home
Anxiety can make it feel like your to-do list is insurmountable. On those mornings where you don’t know where to start, and you feel overwhelmed with the fear that you’ll never get it done, try making a dump list instead of a to-do list. Then recycle it and your anxiety, so you can get back into the groove of living with intention.