I spent a very stressful weekend last week,I kept thinking of the unlimited number of tasks that I have to complete once I reach office on Monday. Being the typical type A personality that I am couldn’t stop thinking about it and stressing over it all weekend. This constantly stopped me from enjoying outings and even when I smiled or laughed the fear of not being able to accomplish the tasks on time kept lurking at the back of my mind.
On Monday saw the list of herculean tasks in front of me and thought it was impossible to get even one of them done in short I started to Hyperventilate. I couldn’t decide where to start and how to start!
When I thought about the situation on Monday evening I realized that all weekend and even on Monday I had spent my time THINKING how difficult the tasks at hand are and not DOING anything to even get started or get a portion of it completed.
On Tuesday I decided to take control! This is what you should do in case you are stuck and start to hyperventilate:
- Calm the hell down– Yes, its work and not your life. If you don’t complete it today you can still do it tomorrow. The world will not come to an end and your office building won’t burn to the ground if you are not able to do something unsuccessfully.
- List the tasks- Make a list of all the tasks that need to be done . Be it big tasks or the small ones just write them down.
- Prioritize– Number the tasks at hand in terms of priorities. With number 1 getting the maximum priority and number 100 getting the last. The priorities can be decided based on the urgency of the task and their importance.
- Finish easier ones first– Finishing tasks that are comparatively easier to finish will help calm you down once you are able to strike them off the to-do list. However, keep the priority in mind too. You wouldn’t want to complete the least important tasks first leaving out the more urgent ones.
- Do not do 2 tasks simultaneously– Even though it is often tempting to work on 2 files/ presentations/excels etc simultaneously. It often proves to be a bad idea since it hits the quality along with affecting your concentration. Leaving you with no task accomplished fully.
- Say NO-You cant be attending useless meetings and answering pings from all people. You need to learn to say “No” and put up a Do not disturb sign when required. Some people might think it’s rude but you need some quiet time for yourself to complete the task at hand!
Take Away
Doing is clearly more difficult than Thinking about Doing! However tasks will not finish themselves, they will need to be completed. Any number of tasks can be accomplished with proper planning and execution. So next time you find yourself on the verge of a breakdown due to the number of tasks at hand-
Step back -access -plan and then dive into it !