Self-Taught Lessons

Self-generated stess...I'm the master of it. I create enormous to-do lists, set unreasonable goals, expect entirely too much of myself, annnnnd I procrastinate. This is a terrible combination that can lead to nothing other than nearly-constant verbal abuse of self. That's not the simple, or happy, way to live at all!

After recently creating a stupidly stressful day for myself, I got to pondering how I could handle things differently. I have several responsibilities that I (mostly) choose to attend to, but the way I attend to them may not be the best. For example, letting paperwork from Dragon Knits pile up until I have to spend an entire evening straightening it out. Probably not the best plan. So, I'm going to experiment with doing things differently. Because that's what I'm doing, right? Experimenting with life. :)

This is my plan, which is a bit counter-intuitive to simplicity in my mind. A little more structure. Yes. Structure. For example, paperwork for Dragon Knits should be dealt with once a week, not every three months, so I'm actually scheduling a day each week to tend to paperwork. It's on my calendar and everything (that means it's for serious). No more spending entire evenings drowning in receipts and documents for me when it can be taken care of in a few minutes once per week. When you think about it, very few large projects need to be completed in one sitting. From now on my policy is this: unless it's going to land me in jail or dead if I don't complete it immediately, I will break it into small pieces and tackle it one piece at a time. I'm hoping this will help with the procrastination problem, since most of that is generated by being overwhelmed by large projects in the first place.

Part two of the plan: stop creating so many projects for myself in the first place. Half of the items on my to-do list at any time are self-imposed and not necessary. I even stress about going too long without typing something out here. But, really, does it matter? Does it fall under the "imprisonment or death are the consequences" category? Not even close. From now on the tasks I bring down on myself will be more carefully evaluated. If they're not for the greater good of simplicity and happiness in my life, my new strategy is to keep them from ever hitting the to-do list in the first place.

I'll let you know how it goes.

How do you avoid getting overwhelmed by projects and obligations?