30 Things to Do? That’s 25 Too Many!

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For those of us that spend countless hours on the internet because of our businesses, do you feel overwhelmed from time to time?

Don’t even answer that! I already can see you nodding your head up and down.

It’s a constant struggle. And we wind up spending a lot of time spinning our wheels. If there were just a few easy things you could do to gain control over feelings of being overwhelmed would you read on?

Okay then; here we go. A couple of good habits that will make your life easier (and if you’re already practicing them, congrats!):

• Have five windows or less open on your computer at any given time. I admit to being notorious for opening up to thirty! Heck, my computer can handle it. 

However, your brain cannot! Did you know that the average brain can only process five things (give or take one or two in either direction) at a time? What happens when you look at tabs for thirty pages at once?

• Write down all the tasks you can think of. Were you just groaning? Fine, type them then! Bet you can think up thirty of them. Go ahead. Document them. Having them in black and white can help make things clearer.
• Estimate the time you'll spend on each. This will help you plan ahead a little better.
• And all those little things that you do every day? Make a special list or add them to your calendar. How much time will you spend on each? This works well for your social media efforts. Example: Twitter: 3 minutes between 8 and 9 AM, three minutes between 12 and 1, etc. Use an egg timer. If three minutes isn't enough, schedule six minutes. 

• Remember all those items you wrote down? Prioritize them. Some may lose a lot of importance after you've seen them written down. 

• Tasks can be big or small. Can someone else help with some of them?  And those big ones? Break them down into smaller parts; they can be completed in steps. Write down what those steps are and conquer one piece of the pie at a time.

One of Dale Carnegie’s books discusses the notion of (and excuse me while I paraphrase here) “If something doesn't get done, is the world going to end?” It’s something to think about, right? Is it really THAT important?

Ah, just thought of something else! Mute the sound on your computer so that you don’t hear email or notification sounds coming in! The sound IS on at times because something important is coming in however there are times to shut out the noise too!

And I've included in my list how many hours to spend per week writing blogs! And going forward, there's now a dedicated time set for writing them. This isn't foolproof; if there is a timely subject then rules will be broken, however, it should work 90% of the time. Just putting that time aside on the calendar every week is a big step forward.

How are you feeling now?

Styx sang this top ten ditty in 1981. It's something that we can all look forward to as we manage all the things we need to get done! Oh, and DO add this to your list: Stop by and say hello at the website, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ ...Thanks!