The Overwhelm Challenge
What has you feeling overwhelmed right now?
- Painting a room?
- Pile of mail?
- Planning a trip?
Whatever it is, you only need to start with one step.
I know, I know, it sounds over simplified and trite. But, it is true and it is the key to dissolving the icky overwhelm feeling.
Learning from the Experts
2 books that made a big impact for me:
How to organize everything is a template for goals ranging from: ‘organize a book club’ to ‘plan a trip’ to ‘how to be an astronaut’. Reading his book showed me that every goal can be broken down into smaller and smaller chunks to lead to a small, medium, or bigger end points.
Tiny Habits works off of a similar principle of finding the small starting point, but goes more into the mindset of habit design for success on a repeated basis (long term exercise goal, daily habit of making breakfast, flossing).
The Power of Small Steps
Both have this in common:
- If you focus only on the end point and not the step in front of you, you might feel defeated before you even start.
- If you break big things down into smaller and smaller steps, every big thing feels like a doable little thing.
Our society today often encourages us to ‘Take the leap’, ‘Aim for the stars’, ‘Go big or go home’. And that certainly has its time and place. There is also a time and place for gaining momentum off of little wins.
If you aim straight for the stars and fall short, the devastation may keep you laying on the floor for a long time. But, if you aim for the first step on the stairway to the stars and make it, you will be motivated by that one step to go to the next step.
This is just one of the strategies you can learn to implement in Home Management for Everyone – Take the full course today!