Are you overwhelmed as you stare at all the stuff on your to do list? Or, all the stuff piled around your home? Or, all the paper piled on top of your desk? Or, as you think of all the stress swirling around in your brain? Overwhelmed feelings keep us frozen in place and unsure what to do next.
How do we get UN-stuck? What do we do first?
I stood in front of a garage with a client once and stared at this wall of stuff. It went the entire depth of the garage...floor to ceiling! I was overwhelmed. I wanted to run the other direction but I couldn't because I was the professional. This project looked so HUGE!
BUT, because I was the professional, I couldn't run. I had to lead! I reminded myself, "The first step to organizing anything is to sort!" I took a step forward.
Then another, and another until I was standing in front of something. I bent over, grabbed it and said out loud (in a happy tone!),"One thing at a time!!" I placed it in the pile I called 'tools'. I stepped forward again and grabbed the next thing I saw and placed it in a pile I called 'paint'! My client followed my example and before we both knew it the entire garage was sorted!!AMAZING!!! We had started...and then we were finished!! We weren't standing there stuck, staring and overwhelmed! Why? Because we took one thing at a time and made a decision on which pile to put it in. We sorted like things with like things.
Take any area that is overwhelming you and sort it, like with like. Do you have a big to do list? Sort it out by errands, phone calls, computer tasks, etc. Do you have a room full of junk? Sort it out into categories - clothes, paper, trash, tools, etc. Do you have a desk piled high with paper? Go one by one and sort each paper into categories - bills, projects, to file, to shred, to others. Is there a project to accomplish? Sort it into 30 minute tasks...as many as you can think of!
This even works for things swirling around in your brain. Dump things out of your brain onto paper. Categorize as you write them down. Categories might look like "ideas", "to do", "worrying about but have no control over", "questions I need to talk to someone about", "tasks"...
The first step to getting unstuck is the first step to organizing anything: SORT!!
The secret to getting unstuck is "ONE THING AT A TIME"!!
ACTION: Think of an area that is overwhelming you...Take one thing at a time and SORT it into categories. You are moving forward…getting organized…unsticking yourself…gaining FREEDOM!
I'm Stuck...Where Do I Start?