Reducing Anxiety When You Got Too Many Things To Do

 

Got too many things to do?  Then write them all down!  That’s the process that David Allen suggests as a first step when you’re overwhelmed with Anxiety due to the sheer # of things you need to do.  While this alone is no revolutionary concept and has been adopted for centuries, it still does wonders today in clearing your head and keeping your cool when you’re completely swamped.

 

Just writing down your to-do list to alleviate your Anxiety isn’t a path to success or less Anxiety either, at least for the long run.  It goes without saying but you must also effectively execute on the responsibilities (you’ve written down) or else important people, including family, employers, employees, clients, friends, etc., will not be happy.  David Allen’s GTD (Getting Things Done) System is designed to streamline this process by collecting your thoughts related to things you need or want to get done, prioritizing them, and creating effective reminders so you don’t forget to do what you need to do.

 

A Simple Exercise to Stop Anxiety Due to Overwhelm

 

Here’s a bare bones implementation of GTD you can try if you’re overwhelmed.

 

• Open up a spreadsheet document (or just take out a sheet of paper.)
• Eliminate as many distractions as you can.
• List everything that you need to do that you can think of right now.
• If it takes less than 2 minutes to complete, do it now!
• For everything listed, assign a priority of 1 to 5, with 1 being most urgent and 5 least.
  • Generally, if it’s due within 3 days or less, assign it a 1.
  • If it’s due within a month or two, assign it a 3.
  • And if it’s due within a year or more, assign it a 5.  These are all just guidelines.
• Take a short break.
• Go through your list and do everything assigned a “1”.  Then “2”.  Etc.

 

This is NOT a complete system but if after doing the above exercise you feel less anxious and overwhelmed, then it’s definitely worthwhile to continue reading this article and learn how to design such a system.

 

Organizing Your To-Do List with Technology

 

One of the biggest criticisms of David Allen’s GTD system is how it doesn’t take advantage of the latest technological tools in organizing.  It’s understandable since Allen publicized this method back in 2001 when the Internet was still an emerging technology.  Many of Allen’s principles and tactics that he’s developed and fine tuned over the decades have not been made obsolete with technology but rather even easier to implement as a result!

 

As of 2015, Evernote one of the most popular and effective software packages for organizing documents and notes.  If you rely on technology, especially mobile devices, to organize your life, then I highly recommend taking the FREE video course on implementing GTD using Evernote at The Secret Weapon.  While this course is not as comprehensive as Allen’s book, it’s enough for you to get started organizing your thoughts and responsibilities for the moment.  You can later read the book to further fine tune your system.

 

Your To-Do List Makeover

 

Not everyone reading this has the luxury of one day or even one hour to invest in setting up a robust system for getting things done.  That’s why I’ve outlined a tiered makeover plan based on how much time you have available below:

 

• 30 Minutes or less?  Scroll up to the “Simple Exercise” above in this article.
• A Couple of Hours?  Read my basic Evernote and GTD tutorial on my blog.
• Several Hours to One Day?  Try the FREE video course at The Secret Weapon.
• A Week or More (recommended): Get David Allen’s book “Getting Things Done” from Amazon.com by clicking the green button below.