I’ve got too much on my plate, right now! What shall I do?

If you can relate to the above, I have one easy tip for you to get focused again and avoid stressing out in this crazy phase before Christmas.

I see lots of people around me being totally stressed out. Including myself, at least on some days of the week. When that happens and I am consciously aware of what state I am in, I follow one simple advice someone gave to me one day.

That advice is all about just one single action, which you can take today. And it will only take you 10 – 30 minutes. Are you ready?

Brain Dump

1. Take out a piece of paper or open up a new document on your computer. If you have a whiteboard available this could be even better (I don’t have one so I use a mind map for this exercise).
2. Write down everything, which is currently on your mind. Literally every task that you can think of. Do a complete brain dump. Take the time you need.
3. As a next step, try and sort them into separate topics.
4. Now, take a few minutes and ask yourself the following question: “Which of these tasks and topics is most important and most urgent to me?” Circle the answer.
5. Identify one concrete action that you can complete by tomorrow to make a move on that priority of yours.

This brain dump exercise is easy, right? It is really not new, but designed as a reminder to help you to focus on the things, which are truly important to you. Right now.

And there is not necessarily a need to stress out about the other things, because now you have them written down and you will not forget anything!

Now, you have got your brain available to think about all the important things. It is no longer a memory storage 🙂

Are you with me?

Please leave a comment below if you like this exercise and in case you have not done it for a while, let me know in the comments what your #1 priority is and what you are going to do about it.

Speaking of myself, my #1 priority is to get back to sleeping at least eight hours a day. I have been stressing out too much, as I need some more energy. As the weekend is coming up this will hopefully be easy, but what will happen on Monday?

Looking forward to reading you comments!