How to Prevent Overwhelm in Seven Minutes

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” Benjamin Franklin warned fire-threatened Philadelphians in 1736.

I watched this play out on TV last night. Any This is Us fans in the house? 

It was the Saturday in the Park episode where Kate and Toby’s house starts crumbling because of a leak that hadn’t been fixed. The writers for this show get me every-time. The failed roof was a metaphor for the marriage that seems to be falling apart.

Prevention can play a role in fire, home maintenance, and marriage.

The same rings true to managing overwhelm.  If we took some measures to prevent it, we could stop it from taking down our lives.

In the last few blog posts I’ve dove deep into overwhelm as an entrepreneur and as a mom.

Today I want to offer you a seven minute fix to emotional overload:

Let me introduce you to the Weekday Shutdown Routine:

It's my secret to creating boundaries between my work and personal life. In many ways, it's a game changer. This helps you shut down your work and create an opportunity for you to rest and relax and set you up for success on the next day. So it can have a big impact on both your personal and professional lives. 

I'm excited to teach this to you. Keep in mind this is my process. These steps work for me but you might need to tweak your routine to work for you.

Start with Reflection

I use Michael Hyatt’s full focus planner but you can use your computer, you can use a paper planner, whatever works. Take a moment and reflect on how your day went. What went well, what didn't go so well and make notes for yourself.

Review your List

Next, review your to-do list. I focus on no more than three big goals a day. It might be that I have more on my list for the day, but if I can accomplish just these three things, I will have done what needs to be done.

I move the Big 3 to another day in the week if needed.  Whenever you move a task to a new date, you should commit to the time you need to devote to that task so that it can be completed.

As I review the rest of the list, I either delete, delegate, or move them to my master task list on Trello. I also use the 2 minute rule here if I have time.

Tackle Tomorrow

Take a few moments to look at tomorrow. Take note of the appointments you have for the day. Also, choose your Big 3 (one of which must be tied to your Life Plan). Create your time blocks based on the appointments and top priorities for the day.

Life will never go according to plan, so don't schedule every moment.  You'll need time to handle the last minute crisis or to clear your head by going outside.

To prepare for tomorrow and remain stress-free, planning is the last step. Perhaps that means making an outline for tomorrow's meeting, or finding out who is taking Parker to soccer practice.

Shutdown Sequence

The final step now that you’ve closed out your day and prepared for tomorrow is to shutdown your devices.  This creates a barrier between your downtime and keeps work from bleeding into your personal life.

So before the roof starts crumbling, give yourself 7 minutes to create this routine. Send me a comment girl, let me know how it goes.