Work is challenging. Your child is difficult. Your parents need additional help and It’s time to go out to dinner with your partner! OK, so maybe all of this doesn’t happen at once but you get what I mean. Everything seems to be happening at once and you don’t know if you can deal with anything else. So what can you do?

1.    Breathe

Stop what you are doing, move away from where you are. Now start to breathe deeply. In to the count of 3 and out to the count of 5. Do this at least 6 times. Now you are ready to ….

2.    Write down your ideas and things that need to be done

Don’t ignore your ideas and tasks that need to be done. Every time you have a distracting thought or idea, write it down. Once written down the idea will stop bouncing around in your head and you can continue with the task at hand. If your list is huge you may be interested in a program list Asana

3.    Sort and prioritise the list

Sort out the list and create categories. Once sorted into categories identify what needs to be done first, second, third etc.

4.    Do one thing at a time in 25 minute blocks

Now start with the first task. Focus on it for a maximum of 25 minutes. During this time you don’t do anything else. Otherwise you are just wasting your time.

5.    Take a 5 minute break

At the end of the 25 minutes take a 5 minute break, even if you aren’t finished the task at hand. Get up, walk around, and do something different – get a glass of water, do some stretches, make a cup tea, go outside and breathe.

6.    Look at what is the underlying cause being overwhelmed

Often when you are feeling overwhelmed there is another factor that is driving you. A pattern that was created in the past either by you or your parents. If this is the case there is something you can do about it. You can reprogram your mind to react differently. That’s it … I tried to keep it simple and short so as not to overwhelm you.           http://www.asana.com/ http://pomodorotechnique.com/