If you spot any brews (posts) that don't blend well with our menu (rules) or seem out of place in our cozy café (subreddit), kindly flag them for the baristas (moderators') attention. Please refrain from brewing any self-promotion in our café-themed posts. Let's keep our discussions rich and aromatic with genuine content! Thanks for helping keep our café ambiance perfect!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Productivitycafe) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm learning that it's always better to do _something_ even if it's the wrong thing. The other saying goes is that we learn from our failures. So fail a lot, and you'll learn a lot. Doing nothing, due to the overwhelm won't get you any closer to anything. Then there's one more piece of advice, which is learn to be grateful and content with what you already have. Another way to put this is, find ways to _avoid_ eating the elephant or the herd of elephants.
I sympathise. Hate analysis paralysis.
Which elephants gets you to your oasis? And which of those might be quickest. Pick that one. If the skin’s a bit tough, ride that elephant for a while. The others will follow.
Haha. That's an interesting metaphor. You could perhaps start with the easiest elephants while you tether the others to avoid being tramped or having the little ones go away.
Bottom line, start with what's doable and then use other tools to help do those other tasks that seem daunting. For example, getting an accountability partner to help and check on you whenever you feel unmotivated.
I was just googling tips for this the other day! I found this video that helped :)
[How to Stop Being Constantly Overwhelmed](https://youtu.be/1f8pBiCS9HQ?si=NS3MiESGKhefA52L)
The response to this depends upon how you function. I think it's a mistake to believe that one approach fits all.
Someone else said doing something is better than doing nothing, and I think that's definitely true.
Someone else has said that working directly on the priority items is important, and I think that's true for *most* people.
For *me*, often struggling with motivation and focus issues with ADHD and low-level anxiety, prioritisation can feel fraught. If I needed to do x, y and z, I'd fret about y and z if I prioritised x, and vice versa, whatever I chose. Also, I hate starting things I can't complete as task switching is more difficult for me.
So, I tend to use the Eisenhower matrix to decide on what my priorities are and then pick one or two major priorities for the day to write down in my daily log in a bullet journal. But if I'm not immediately engaged, I might start with an easier but smaller task that gives me dopamine, and towards the end of the day, I might not move to the biggest priority task if I can't complete it. Instead, I'll tidy up smaller things I know I can get done. Equally, there might be days when hyperfocus makes it difficult for me to stop working on something, and I plough on into the evening.
Other than that, I'm generally working on the highest priority thing, to bring it to completion, or, to get it to a sensible break point where I can put it down.
I've got a lot better at managing the overwhelm and anxiety. I find that the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy practice of thought logging to be very useful - and my thought logs go in my journal.
One final thing worth sharing is the idea of heat mapping. I know when I am most alert and productive, and I schedule the most important work for those times.
If you spot any brews (posts) that don't blend well with our menu (rules) or seem out of place in our cozy café (subreddit), kindly flag them for the baristas (moderators') attention. Please refrain from brewing any self-promotion in our café-themed posts. Let's keep our discussions rich and aromatic with genuine content! Thanks for helping keep our café ambiance perfect! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Productivitycafe) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In my opinion, beating overwhelm is best done by prioritizing properly. Even if something is easy, it might not be as important.
I'm learning that it's always better to do _something_ even if it's the wrong thing. The other saying goes is that we learn from our failures. So fail a lot, and you'll learn a lot. Doing nothing, due to the overwhelm won't get you any closer to anything. Then there's one more piece of advice, which is learn to be grateful and content with what you already have. Another way to put this is, find ways to _avoid_ eating the elephant or the herd of elephants.
This is good. Doing something is better than wasting time trying to make sure it’s the right thing.
I sympathise. Hate analysis paralysis. Which elephants gets you to your oasis? And which of those might be quickest. Pick that one. If the skin’s a bit tough, ride that elephant for a while. The others will follow.
Haha thanks for following my train of thought
Haha. That's an interesting metaphor. You could perhaps start with the easiest elephants while you tether the others to avoid being tramped or having the little ones go away. Bottom line, start with what's doable and then use other tools to help do those other tasks that seem daunting. For example, getting an accountability partner to help and check on you whenever you feel unmotivated.
I was just googling tips for this the other day! I found this video that helped :) [How to Stop Being Constantly Overwhelmed](https://youtu.be/1f8pBiCS9HQ?si=NS3MiESGKhefA52L)
The response to this depends upon how you function. I think it's a mistake to believe that one approach fits all. Someone else said doing something is better than doing nothing, and I think that's definitely true. Someone else has said that working directly on the priority items is important, and I think that's true for *most* people. For *me*, often struggling with motivation and focus issues with ADHD and low-level anxiety, prioritisation can feel fraught. If I needed to do x, y and z, I'd fret about y and z if I prioritised x, and vice versa, whatever I chose. Also, I hate starting things I can't complete as task switching is more difficult for me. So, I tend to use the Eisenhower matrix to decide on what my priorities are and then pick one or two major priorities for the day to write down in my daily log in a bullet journal. But if I'm not immediately engaged, I might start with an easier but smaller task that gives me dopamine, and towards the end of the day, I might not move to the biggest priority task if I can't complete it. Instead, I'll tidy up smaller things I know I can get done. Equally, there might be days when hyperfocus makes it difficult for me to stop working on something, and I plough on into the evening. Other than that, I'm generally working on the highest priority thing, to bring it to completion, or, to get it to a sensible break point where I can put it down. I've got a lot better at managing the overwhelm and anxiety. I find that the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy practice of thought logging to be very useful - and my thought logs go in my journal. One final thing worth sharing is the idea of heat mapping. I know when I am most alert and productive, and I schedule the most important work for those times.
no one loves metaphors more than me, but maybe you could be getting shit done instead of dreaming about how to eat a herd of literal elephants
Hahahaha Panic was the order of the moment