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Overwhelm? Nasty but it can be dealt with, says Rusty our cat.
Now I am so busy creating intentionally, my personal productivity counts and roadblocks need to be watched.
As a result of my watching I have noticed a lot of things but not to overwhelm you I have selected 5 things which tripped me up big time in the past and present.
And of course our cat is constantly setting an example.
Rusty’s list. Rusty’s computer list complete. Rusty’s painting list done. 
So what have I learnt from our cat about my 5 things?
Feelings of overwhelm. Feeling overwhelmed is made up and has nothing to do with what is going on in reality. This is how I learnt to deal with it.
With painting the inside of the house, keeping the business going, writing, scheduling meetings and having food in the cupboard there is lots to do. And sometimes, just like that, a feeling of overwhelm takes hold and I drown in all my tasks. I feel bullied by my thoughts about I can’t possibly do it all, who do I think I am.
I become paralyzed and I cannot decide what to focus my attention on.
I wander around the house aimlessly, starting tasks and leaving them half finished. I cannot even think what to make for lunch and I start eating biscuits instead.
Once I notice my dithering I know I have to stop and talk. The best thing for me is to sit down and find my today’s ‘to do’ list.
If I go into overwhelm it means I’ve somehow lost track of my daily task list and I started to look at the whole plan’s ‘to do’ list feeling that I have to complete the whole project today.
Once I calm down and stick to my list, I see doable steps and I physically feel the relief. With my calm I also get my faith back that it can be done, but not today.
I am always so amazed how I can change from being in total overwhelm to calmly doing my ‘to do’ list and ending up with enough time for making good food and having long sleeps.
- Going it alone. This is such an annoying one I cannot believe I still do this sometimes. My productivity so suffers when I am struggling by myself and ignoring the people around me or worse John, ‘the partner’.
Why do I refuse to play team?
When I am really busy I tend to keep going and ignore trouble. The most classic is the computer. When in trouble with the computer I don’t ask for help. I just plod on. Even when John next to me gets alerted by my sighs that something is wrong, I will not easily accept help. I so hate that when I stubbornly refuse assistance. So much time and energy wasted arrhhh. It doesn’t help the relationship either. - Playing victim. I know that things are going the wrong way when I start to mutter under my breath that I am the only one in this household that does something and nobody else is any good. My victim mode is definitely one to watch as it really creates roadblocks everywhere. The quicker I snap out of it the better.
Playing victim is not productive, talking about my task list is. If I cannot get things done, renegotiation of my tasks and playing team is much more productive than playing victim. - Not sticking to my ‘to do’ list. I finally have seen the huge benefits of making lists. However if you are still in the camp of resisting lists, give it up, lists are good (and if you listen you can hear the thump when people who know me are falling off their chair).
Now the hurdle is to stick to my ‘to do’ list. I am not good at that and it trips me up. The list is there to make large goals manageable in little progressive steps that build on each other. If I mess with the list, I mess with managing the project and that causes me to feel overwhelmed. Simple.
I am getting better as I no longer want to waste my time on feelings of overwhelm.
Thus I create time to do even bigger things. - Not taking time out and looking after myself. This happened all the time in my former ‘I hate lists’ days. I never managed an overview of what were good manageable chunks of tasks so I tended to just keep going until the whole project was completed. It is a no brainer to see that that was making me tired, unhealthy and it took all the joy out of doing the project. I felt like a flogged dead horse and resented what I was doing. Not a pretty picture.
Another goodie of making lists is that you can stop once your manageable daily list is done. There is now planned time for rest and good food, so I keep exhaustion abay and I stay healthy.
One day I can post a photo of Rusty and me, lying side by side.
So these are the 5 things to combat overwhelm with, to have a great life with ‘partner’ and pets and be an extra ordinary creating machine.
Anybody want to share their pet’s wisdom of how to do a lot, how to stay healthy and keep the peace at home?
10 Comments to “Overwhelm? Nasty but it can be dealt with, says Rusty our cat.”
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Thank you for the reminder Wilma! I was doing so well a couple of weeks ago…loving my lists and getting the completion I was after. Then I sprung a list leak somewhere along the line: I just started adding more and more things on and my completion was… well actually it just wasn’t. So I relate to your description of the feelings of overwhelm and am off to put it right – now!
Hey Ingrid. Soon the two of us can lie side by side in the sun next to Rusty. Completion and lists, so good when you work them..cool that the reminder worked, guess what. After writing this post I have been a completion and list queen myself.
Blimmen lists…!
In the past I’ve been very good at writing fantastic-looking (but totally unrealistic) to-do lists. The result? Ending up feeling like a failure at the end of the day, of course.
Trying to make do-able lists, they somehow were very boring…
Now I’ve been working with the “Ask and it’s given” book (out of your library, what a treasure!)and I get totally fired up about their suggestion of a to-do list!
It works like this: on the top of the left side of the paper I write “what I would like to do today:”. On the right side goes “what I would like the universe to do:” .
And yay! I’ve got it both; connecting with the big picture stuff that excites me AND looking at the do-able today steps. That way it’s becoming a much more enjoyable (and productive!)practice. And -wow- never underestimate the power of asking, it so helps me to clarify WHAT it actually IS, that I want! (And -what do I DARE to ask for,it’s quite enlightening…)
Thank you a million time for lending us the book, it’s already got bible status with me!
Much love, Ylia
Ylia, what a beautiful way to describe the list phenomenon.
Lists have indeed fallen in disrepute but how you describe how your way of doing lists contributes, I don’t think anybody can resist and go and try.
Thanks so much for this, you even made me more enthusiastic about the beasts.
And yes, I too love the book ‘Ask and it is given’.
Much love ot you too, Wilma
So what does it mean to be listless, eh..?
Bestest,
Beth. X
List? Never have one! Just take life as it is.Maybe that’s why I had missed quite a lot of ‘need to do’ things.
@ Beth, hahaha, interesting how language works.
@Ari. Sounds like a good life and taking life as it comes is quite a skill.
Hey Wilma, take a look at the Anthony Robbins when it comes “to do” lists. I think its great to get thinks down onto paper and this works for me brilliantly as it is not left swimming in my head. However, the very act of label it a “to do” list often can create stress in its self. How? The realm that “to do” sits in simply reminds us of things we HAVE TO DO. This is restricting as we have no freedom within this context. One thing that has become popular over the last few years with peak performance coaches is the subject of R.P.M. (Results focused, Purpose driven, Massive action.) We are all busy busy busy in life and yet we don’t get the results we want. So here it is….Find out the result you want from any situation, then figure out your why or purpose for doing it, and then apply massive action to it. Of course people say that why apply this to dishes or vacuuming. My thoughts are DON’T. They are not important in life, I have found that the more I focus on my goals and dreams and moving towards them, then the little things become less energy intensive. A good example for myself was when I was a kid building Lego toys, I became so immersed in it that when I was told to do the dishes I was quick to get them done and move back into my project. Too many people have little problems in life made out to look big. If we can learn to create enormous problems (challenges) with a focused why and the daily action taking place then who wants to focus their energy on such little excuses for not being able to live a big life.
You are making excellent points there, Blair. I really resonate with your story about lego building and doing the dishes quickly to get back to the real exciting stuff.
We do waste a lot of energy on the small things and then wonder why so little time, so little results….