What to do when overwhelmed

Since we started working on our new company, a lot of additional responsibilities have come my way. However, I also carried old commitments over into my "new life". Both commitments I made with myself and commitments that I made to others. And I started realizing quickly over the past few weeks, that I am spreading myself to thin and slowly run at the danger of being overwhelmed by it all.

The following quote came to me right around that time and left quite an impression:

"The fastest way to raise your level of performance: Cut your number of commitments in half."

Which for me translated into: Instead of agonizing on how you can start project X, Y, and Z, while still working on A, B, and C, just cut half of them and you are left with B, C, and Y.

How did I do it? I sat down in front of a piece of paper and listed every project and task that I am working on. Now I could start negotiating with myself over every item. The only rule was that 50% of all tasks and 50% of all projects need to be eliminated or postponed.

Now if you are anything like me, you get anxiety just by thinking about killing your darling-projects and ideas. My solution to that is my "Someday" list. A list where I park any project or idea that I can work on later when I have more time. Even if I never get to it again, I know it is safely parked on that list.

The feeling of going through this process is exhilarating and freeing to say the least!

One prompt I'd like to leave you with in order to prioritize your list:

What are the minority of my actions that drive the majority of my results? Cut the rest!