Overwhelm and the never-ending to-do list

a post by Karen Skidmore for the CanDoCanBe blog

I was moved to go and find this having just posted about being overwhelmed from a different perspective. Or is it? Karen is writing from a business/work viewpoint and Joanna from a more personal, psychological viewpoint and yet both are pointing out ways in which you can help yourself to calm your mind.



I get it. There are times that you find yourself in the trenches of to-dos. No matter what’s gone on before and how well prepared and organised you may have felt last month, stuff can easily pile up and get on top of you.

Sometimes it shows up as piles of post-it notes and scraps of paper, but in most cases, it’s a mental overload. You’ve got too much thinking going on and your brain can’t keep up with the number of tabs you’ve got open; you need to close down your mental browser.

Multi-tasking is a productivity myth and the word ‘priorities’ is a modern-day oxymoron.

You can NOT have more than one priority at one time.

But we are speeding up and trying to get more stuff done more than ever, so it’s no surprise that the feeling of overwhelm and the never-ending to-do list are common problems amongst entrepreneurs and mico-business owners like you.

I’ve been triggered to write this article this week because the conversation of how to deal with too much to do has come up in several client sessions these past few weeks. It’s Week 5 of my Momentum members’ 90 Day Plans and, at this time, I ask them to complete the 4 Week Review and Re-Do process.

Making time to review your progress every 3 or 4 weeks and map out the detail of the tasks for the next few weeks is critical to avoid overwhelm. I know this may feel counter-intuitive to stop and take time out but if you don’t, you run the risk of getting stuck in the trenches.

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4 Simple Habits That Can Soothe Your Anxious Mind

a post by Joanna Ciolek for the Tiny Buddha blog



“I vow to let go of all worries and anxiety in order to be light and free.” ~Thich Nhat Hanh

There is so much noise and overwhelm these days it’s almost impossible to not feel crippling anxiety on a regular basis.

With a march of commitments, appointments, and obligations that never seem to end, we’re a nation of chronically stressed and overwhelmed.

We often spend our lives in a rush, running on autopilot, completing task after task until we finally collapse into bed utterly exhausted. Amidst the noise and demands our minds are scattered, in a perpetual state of thinking, planning, regretting, and worrying.

Hence the anxiety — a normal response considering how little time we spend in our bodies, grounded, connected, and still.

I’ve struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. My sensitive nature and rough childhood undoubtedly shaped me. Chronic fear and anxiety manifested as perfectionism, people-pleasing, and perpetual shame. I didn’t feel that I belonged with my family, friends, or the world.

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How to Feel More in Control When Life Gets Overwhelming

a post by Gianna Cifredo for the Tiny Buddha blog

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” ~Confucius

I’m in the middle of a career transition and it hasn’t been easy. For the first few months after quitting my job—a job which I thought should have been perfect, where I thought I would stay for years—I was paralyzed into inaction regarding anything career-related. I had lost confidence in my own judgment; after all, I had thought that job would be the one and it wasn’t, so did I even really know what I wanted?

This kind of self-doubt makes me second-guess myself to the extreme—my goals, my desires, and even the validity of my feelings. This often means I start doing something, question what I’m doing and how I’m doing it, feel stressed and overwhelmed, and then end up doing nothing.

I’m still in this transition, but where once the self-doubt and overwhelm paralyzed me every day, I’m now taking back control and beginning to shape my life how I want it.

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