423. When There’s Too Much To Do

Kendra Adachi guides us through how to get through moments when we feel overwhelmed by everything we have to do (a perfect topic for the holiday season).
Kendra Adachi is an expert in “compassionate time management” and the author of the book The Plan: Manage Your Time Like A Lazy Genius.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

I’m Kendra Adachi, and it’s going to be OK. Here’s what you do when there’s too much to do. If you just opened your planner and then fell into a heap on the floor, you’re in the right place.

I’m quite familiar with the scheduling fetal position. First, take a deep breath. You’re not in danger, logistically or otherwise.

You’re an amazing person, and you’re going to be OK. Breathe. Next, let me shoot you straight.

The reason you think there’s too much to do is that there probably is. And now you do have to do something about it.
However, do not under any circumstances start turning yourself into a logistical pretzel so you can figure out how to do all of this on your own. That is the wrong answer. Instead, you have to let something go.

I know you hate hearing that and want to punch me in the boob for even saying it. Still, I’ll risk the bruise since I know I’m right on this one. You cannot tend to or complete everything on your list.

You’re an incredibly capable person. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed, that means you are. When there’s too much to do, it’s because everything feels like it has to happen now.
Making this a great time to look at your life through the lens of urgency. There’s a now, soon, later, never mind to do list. Try that here.

Identify what really needs to be done now. And leave the rest for a little further down the road. You might say, Kendra, I can’t, all of this is important.

But I call BS because you have already let something important go and it’s most likely yourself. In your pursuit of doing all there is to do, are you sleeping? Have you hung out with a friend recently?

When was the last time you had fun? My guess is that even if you’ve checked off your list, you’ve checked out on yourself. I don’t want you to do that anymore.

You’re lovely and deserve to live your life in a whole, integrated way, and we both know that running yourself ragged is not the way to do that.

If you’re already willing to say no to yourself, learn to be willing to say no to something less important than you.
Breathe deeply, apply some reasonable urgency to what’s in front of you, let some of it go, and compassionately accept that not everything can matter right now. You’ve got this.
I’m Nora McInerny. This is It’s Going To Be OK. We love hearing your OK things.

You can email them to us, Igtbo at feelingsand.co. You can call and leave a voicemail. We got a new number, 502-388-OKAY.
Feelings and Co. is a bunch of people who love feelings, including Claire McInerny, Marcel Malekebu, Grace Barry, and Amanda Romani mixed this episode, and our theme music is by Secret Audio.