How to Get A Bunch of Ish Done When You Have Like No Time [2011 in Review]

It’s been a hectic seven days — I mean really hectic. First there was the freak windstorm that put my area of town into a state-of-emergency and erased my childcare for a couple of days. Then there were all sorts of negotiations and meetings, involving stuff I’m not allowed to talk about online yet (but wait for it in January). And on top of that, there was all of my regular life stuff that needs to be attended to daily and no matter what.

If you’re reading this Tuesday post, it’s officially the weekend, because I had to back date it in order to get it in this week’s rotation as promised on Monday. But I did get it done. And on that note, let’s talk about how to get a bunch of stuff done when you have like no time.

1. Breathe and acknowledge that you are overwhelmed. I find that I’m at my worst when I still think I have some control over my to-do list despite it’s startling, steadily-increasing length. I take stabs at doing everything, my attention skittering from task to task while my anxiety spikes, and I then I get frustrated because I’m not really getting a lot done. Not until I acknowledge that I could not possibly get all of the stuff I’ve slated to get done in the next 24 hours done do I truly “come alive” organization-wise. Admitting that my todo is impossible is what allows me to….

2. Ask for small extensions. I looked at my deadlines, decided which ones were flexible and asked the appropriate parties for 2-3 day extensions. This immediately took the pressure off, so that I could…

3. Go into triage mode: This is basically looking at your todo list and deciding the 3 most important things you have to do in order of importance. Write them down on a post-it, then focus on just doing them one by one and in order. Then write down the next three things and do it again and again until you can look at your full todo list without feeling so panicked. I find that the trick is to laser in as opposed to multi-tasking. I wasn’t able to promote Fierce and Nerdy very much this week or write my how-to posts in a timely manner, but I got the most important stuff off my plate. And when I only had short bursts of free time, I was able to stay focused because of the triage post-its. Right now I’m on my second to last post-it note, and I’m really looking forward to being just sort of behind tomorrow.

Bonus for the Really Overwhelmed: Take your email accounts offline while working on your triage items. It’s easier to focus when you’re not compulsively checking to see if you’ve gotten new messages. Then, I reward myself for completing one item on my triage list by checking for new messages on my phone, between ticked-off tasks.

But how do you get stuff done when you have like no time? Sound off in the comments.