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This exercise of digging through your thoughts, done often enough, tends to reveal a common thread in such moments: disbelief. At the heart of what you’re feeling is often a quiet sense that all the things you're 'supposed' to get done... won’t get done.
You’d be wise to heed that signal.
Of course you're not going to shoot a neck-turning YouTube video, clean all the rooms in the house, and complete the IFMA executive onboarding pack before 6 p.m. (when the time already reads 3:47 p.m.)
But there’s something to point out.
The disbelief is fed by a confusion where "things that are to get done" are tangled up with "things that must get done", and the tangle creates and fuels a sense of pressure/overwhelm.
Once this is seen, the remedy becomes simple: distill clarity by filtering out what must get done from all else that calls to be done.
What this does is: It starts you on your way to gaining a handle on a manageable number of things truly in need of attention.
What qualifies as "must get done" tends to be a subjective thing, so you'd be hard-pressed to find an all encompassing definition. But one signal stands out: these are the items that repeatedly tug at your attention, "disturbing" that neglect might usher in catastrophe (and if not catastrophe, at the very least, notable disatisfaction).
Take these steps to promote continuity:
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Open your In-basket. Also open your "Today's Priorities" list.
- In your In-basket, without discrimination, list out the contents in mind. If there is a kind of resistance against listing, adopt a conversational style to putting words on the page. You might begin with "What is the issue?" or "What is happening?"
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For your "Today's Priorities" list, review your growing In-basket list and use it populate these three sections of your "Today's Priorities" list:
- Section A: "Now Now" or "Today Today". Limit this section to 1 item—the thing that MUST get done.
- Section B: "Now" or "Today". Limit this section to 5 items. These must be done today but can wait until after Section A is complete.
- Section C: "Today-ish". Limit this section to 21 items. Items you to get to after tasks in section A and section B are complete.
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Open your timing tool, and trigger a timer.
- The timer helps implement the 90–30 rule: 90 minutes of focus followed by 30 minutes of break. During moments of overwhelm, trigger a 30 mins break timer and begin rest, reset and/or recovery.
- ATracker (available on iOS, Android, Web, Mac, Windows) is a good timing tool because of its task-based approach to time-tracking. Use it to create focus tasks to be timed.
- You want to avoid populating ATracker with many tasks. Only place 5 to 10 high-level "items disturbing me" "tasks" for focus. 2 tasks for breaks (30mins short break and 90 mins long break). 1 task for "Open-flow" and 1 task for "Facilities" - i.e. necessary, intentional, attention-demanding, non-focus activities that support life/work. E.g. Cooking, showering, errands, setup-activities etc.
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Protect your focus time block.
- As time unfolds during your focus block, interuptions will arise. Address these not by engaging with them but by opening your in-basket to write down what the interuption might be.
Of course, this method has its drawback. It can feel like an imposition on the natural flow of things. But its strength lies in this: it interrupts chaos. It gives you a structure that promotes intentionality. It offers a path back to continuity—so you can move from being tangled in everything to being engaged with at least one thing that matters.
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