Personal Development Guide - Authorify

3 Tips to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Start Being More Productive

Have you ever started a new week but already felt like you were running behind and completely overwhelmed with work?

Let’s talk about how you can start every Monday not feeling overwhelmed, but rather, feeling motivated and ahead of everything that needs to be done.

One word of caution, though: I would not recommend the “weekend warrior mentality,” where you just work through the weekend to try and catch up. It doesn't work because our bodies and our minds need to rest and reset. But does that mean Saturdays and Sundays are off limits for anything work-related? That brings us to our first tip. #1: Use the weekend for “work lite.” You don’t have to completely forget about work on the weekend; just do a few small tasks at your own pace. Maybe clean up your inbox, or get a head start on a larger project so you don’t get “blank page syndrome” on Monday. Any small task that won’t take up the entire day is a good choice. Best of all, since it’s the weekend, you can work wherever inspires you and at your own pace. What I personally like to do is take my iPad down by the lake in my neighborhood to work there. I tend to be really creative when I'm not pressured and I can stop working if I want to. A little bit of prep for the next week should not dominate your weekend, but it will make you feel ahead of the curve. #2: Create your own earlier deadlines. Many times, we have deadlines and time limits that create stress. But sometimes, a deadline positively motivates us to get things done. What I like to do is to set deadlines and time limits for myself, apart from the actual deadline. That way, I can complete a project ahead of schedule, then go back, review it and improve upon it. This tactic prevents us from falling into “rabbit holes” where we just perfect 5 percent of the project, and 95 percent is not completed or finessed to our liking.

If we set time limits and deadlines for ourselves slightly ahead of schedule, complete projects, review them and improve upon them, it’s much easier than getting everything done at the last minute.