Occasionally, I look at my inbox, my ticket queue, my project backlog, and I say to myself:
I have so much, so much to do, I don't even know where to start.This is the point where I sometimes just give up and react to whatever gets in my face. It usually doesn't end well for me or the people I'm trying to help. A different approach is needed.
Strategy One: Give yourself permission to relax and get some space to think.
Get a cup of coffee and go somewhere quiet, lock yourself in an enclave, take a walk. Get away and collect your thoughts. Staring at the endless stream of IM's, Emails, Stories, and Tickets isn't going to help. In fact, if you're feeling overwhelmed right now, go ahead, take a walk, sit outside and admire the flora and fauna, it's okay, I'll be here when you get back. Sometimes that's all I need to get back into it.
Strategy Two: Eliminate distractions by any means necessary
Find a quiet space, use a quiet room, ensconce yourself in an enclave, put on headphones, turn distractions like Email, Instant Messaging and Skype pop-ups. Just make sure your team knows where you and what you're doing. "I need some space to work on this, I'll be here, and I'll be back in a bit." If you're staying visible, it's okay to tell someone politely to leave you alone. "I understand you need to talk to me. I need to work on this now, can you try me later? Thanks!" Conversely, if someone is deferring you from talking to them, don't take it as a slight.
Strategy Three: Find one thing you can accomplish and get it done.
It can be a story, a ticket, cleaning out the holiday cookie tins from your desk drawer, or finally responding to that email from your manager about that thing you forgot to do. You'll feel better, and you'll free that mental backlog for other tasks.
Strategy Four: Break big things up into smaller chunks that can be accomplished.
I recently agreed to clean out the basement while my spouse washed and folded the laundry. Which one clearly identifies what a finished task looks like? What does cleaning out a basement even mean? If you saw my basement (which some of you will soon), you'd realize that Sisyphus had it easier. Instead of vague, unmanageable phrases like clean out the basement, I organized and put away my tools, and disposed of old paint.
Strategy Five: Make three lists. Things I can do, Things to defer, Things that need help.
The act of organizing your tasks into categories, eliminates a lot of mental noise. I try (and fail mostly) to start with the things I defer. Usually these are requests that I really shouldn't engage with, because there are better resources to solve those problems. Next, the things that need help are things I can't do without someone to clarify or do something for me. I make sure (most of the time) to engage the resources I need, and move on the things I can do. It's usually a short list at this point.
Now, you should be have a clear picture of what you need to do, and some mental clarity to accomplish what needs to be done.
Some tools and techniques that may help you:
- Good ToDo
- Pomodoro Technique
- Bit Literacy
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