It’s no secret 21st Century folks are overloaded. The symptoms are everywhere. I read recently where approximately 10% of American families rent storage facilities to keep things they don’t need, don’t use, but can’t bring themselves to get rid of. Then yesterday morning I was part of a discussion involving ways to organize your life because it is dang near impossible to keep up with everything these days.
I currently have a big planner plus a small binder that I use exclusively to organize my overall life. Plus a small notebook that I keep with me to make notes or record things to remember. My email boxes (yes, I have more than one) are overflowing, I don’t have time to read the blogs I love. I have a stack of physical books I want to read, a virtual list in my Kindle, and a list of books I don’t own that I want to buy or check out of the library. Then there are the books I read for research, or because a friend wrote it, or somebody recommended it, or it was mentioned somewhere and I was intrigued. It never ends. I recently started a speed reading course to help with the load.
So what do we do? Here are some things that have slowly soaked into my thick head. If any of them sound good, feel free to try them. If they sound silly, just ignore them. If you have any ideas, please feel free to share.
Decide what is most important. Start there.
Divide and conquer. If a big project seems overwhelming, break it into parts and do one part at a time.
Let it go. There are only so many hours in a day, so you can’t do everything. What you can’t get to, let go. Put have-to items on the back burner, eliminate what you can. Go on with your life.
Before you sleep at night, write down what you must do the next day. Don’t put everything you can think of on this list, just the musts. Then let them go and sleep.
Okay, what are your ideas for keeping in our overwhelming world? Please share!