Feeling Overwhelmed? ‘Put First Things First’
Well, it’s good to be back here posting again and thanks so much for all your great support while I was away.
I thought with my first piece back I’d talk a little about feeling overwhelmed. I know it’s something that I experience and I’m sure that many of you do too.
We all have so many demands on our time, so many schedules and to-do-lists and so many competing priorities. It can often feel completely overwhelming. The weight of the tasks can pile up and you can find yourself, if you’re anything like me, flitting from one thing to another barely achieving anything at all. When this kind of thinking takes hold it becomes a fine line between inefficiency and procrastination. There are some great books on procrastination – I can especially recommend Neil Fiore’s The Now Habit – Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk. But sometimes you don’t feel up to adding another task to your list: reading yet another book to try to figure out how to tackle being overwhelmed! We know that our feelings follow our thoughts. So when I get these feelings and inefficient responses, I think: ‘put first things first,’ which just happens to be Habit Number 3 in Stephen Covey’s great book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk
We hear this expression ‘put first things first’ and know that it means we need to tackle the most important thing, the most pressing thing, first. It’s the cornerstone of time management and effective habits and it’s remembering this that can help us to stifle inefficiency, procrastination and wasted time. It also importantly highlights that we need to prioritise what is most important to us – we really cannot do everything and we need to be selective.
If you’re having an ‘overwhelmed day,’ and have many things and people clamouring for your attention and competing for your time, try looking at ‘putting first things first.’ What is the most important thing to get done? Try creating a hierarchy of tasks, this is so vital for efficiency and effectiveness. Put the most important and pressing task to the top of the list, prioritise, and then get this top task done in a ruthless fashion. Tick it off a list, if lists work for you. Then continue forward to the next task.
The good news is that when we complete a really important task it often buoys us up to tackle those tasks further down the list. Also, always complete tasks, wherever possible. Nothing is more self-defeating than half-finished tasks. You end up feeling as though you haven’t actually achieved anything.
So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, try ‘putting first things first’ and see if that helps at all.
I look forward to your thoughts and finding out what helps you cope with being overwhelmed. It really is great to be back!
Yup, that’s where I’m at. I start every morning writing in my journal, then make a list of what needs to be attended to today or during the week. I put numbers next to them and pray nothing else gets added to the list during the day. Some things just have to wait but they stay on the list till complete. I’m retired, live alone and still have more to do than hours in the day. Good topic since that’s what mine is about as well. Just have to get pictures ready to go with it. Almost forgot to put that on the list. Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Marlene, glad you enjoyed the post. I am a real fan of lists as they give that tangible sense of achievement and make you feel that you really are getting somewhere – in spite of how you sometimes feel! Very best with your own projects. Thanks so much for stopping by, Ruth
Unfortunately I feel overwhelmed quite often lately, but I guess that also gives me lots of experience with putting first things first. 😉 And that’s THE very thing that helps calm me down and centers me. Great post Ruth!
Thanks so much Julie! I think it does help to calm you when you get some sense of order and priority into your mind. It’s also so important to keep reminding ourselves that we are only human and can only do so much. I really hope that things pick up a bit for you, it sounds like things are tough at the moment. Sending thoughts to you. Love, Ruth x
Welcome back! I’m a great one for writing To-Do lists and I love ticking each task off when I finish it. But I do sometimes feel overwhelmed and find it hard to get stuck in and carry things through. It’s good advice to put first things first. If the list is long or the things to do are going to be fairly time consuming, that’s when I really need to decide what to prioritise. Sometimes I read through the list, feel overwhelmed, end up doing none of them and then feel bad about being lazy. It’s so much better to think, today I will at least complete this task even if I don’t do the others this day.
Hi Jean, thanks so much, it’s good to be back! You’re right, it can be tricky when you see that long list and it can all feel even more overwhelming. I do think that sticking at a task is so important and being a ‘finisher.’ I know it’s something I struggle with, but you feel so good when you get something really finished. I do also think it’s habit forming. For good or bad: finishing or not finishing. If you can get into that good mindset of finishing things you not only get lots done, but feel great about things. I really relate to not getting things done and then feeling bad about it! Hope that your novel is coming along well Jean? All my best to you, Ruth x
It’s good to see you back posting again, Ruth… I’m a big procrastinator these days and the more I do the more overwhelmed I get, it’s frustrating because when I do get tasks done (usually the ones in the most need) I get a great deal of satisfaction… But still, I continue to go around the garden… I hope you’re having a good day…
Hi Chris – lovely to see you here and thanks so much for welcoming me back! I really think it’s largely about habit and building on successes. If we can keep achieving the tasks it becomes second nature to us. I hope that you can get a few more things done which you enjoy and give you satisfaction – the boost definitely helps cope with all the difficulties. xx
Ruth, first how good it is to see you writing posts again.. and I think you could have wrote this post for me this last month.. 🙂
And needed to take a deep breath and time out to allow my brain just to cool down from an overload..
You are right being overwhelmed sometimes renders us incapable of performing the most simple of tasks.. I found myself being tearful and emotional and recognised the symptoms from experiencing a similar experience in my past..
Prioritising first things first is good… Sometimes we rush around trying to please everyone and forgetting to please the biggest Priority ever .. Ourselves!
We often leave ourselves last on the list of priorities as we think about first things first… When in reality it should be ourselves we put first.. A hard lesson to learn when you give of yourself to others in service.. But a must if you want to stop that feeling of being overwhelmed…
Creating space to chill out in your day… Leave time to do things you enjoy doing that are not a task.. leave the pile of ironing.. dusting and treat yourself to a meal out.. enjoy some ME time.. reading a favourite book, Creating in a favourite Hobby… anything that allows you to connect back to yourself.. as you remember who is important….
All these things I did.. and I Meditated and enjoyed, and slowly that overwhelming emotion subsided as I felt more able to cope again …
Bless your heart dear Ruth… your post has again reminded me the importance of “putting first things first”…..
Love and Blessings Sue xox
Sue, what an absolutely beautiful comment and so true in every way. I totally agree with you about putting ourselves first, because without this, and our own resources, we cannot effectively help or care for anyone else. I really hope that you’ve regained some strength. Keep taking good care. The key is knowing when you need that personal space and time to rejuvenate and I know that you know that well, due to those hard times in the past. Much love Sue and thanks so much for your welcome back and wise words. I’ll be over for a cuppa soon! 🙂 xx
This is so true, all of what you said. So many times we are being pulled in so many different directions that we just can’t seem to find where it all starts and where it all ends and when we can’t seem to get anything finished we often feel disappointed in ourselves and that can often lead to other issues such as low self-esteem or even depression.
Thanks so much for your thoughts. Yes, I agree, feeling overwhelmed can lead to many emotional and physical health problems. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Hi, I too would like to welcome you back Ruth, the online world is a nicer place with your inspirational posts. I am often overwhelmed as many troubling issues are beyond my control. I find walking dogs a wonderful stress relief and time to reflect on what’s important in my life. We live in an age where it is all about the now, which keeps constant pressure on all of us. I wish everyone well.
Best, Ross 🙂
It’s good to be able to be back Ross – thank you so much for the encouragement, as always. I need to post more here as I’ve neglected this side of my work while doing the music. I’d love to put some more inspiration out there! xxx