That makes you a member of a very large club. Many of us can get overwhelmed by the enormity of a task. It is hard to see where to start. We might look at it and see a huge ball of string with no tail sticking out to aid in the unraveling. Do what’s a person to do?

We know that answer to the question: How do you eat an elephant?  Answer: One bit at a time.

We hear this and we all laugh but don’t implement it as oten as perhaps we could. My clients often tell me that they tend to just jump in and struggle trying to find that elusive starting point. And they say that the closer the deadline, the more anxious they become to get started. No time to do the heads up prep work.

The stress level usually builds as the timer ticks on. Sometimes the anxiety turns to panic and with that comes difficulty focuing, staying on task and even sleeping or eating. Instead of stress de-escalating as the work comes together, it elevates as the deadline looms.

These 3 steps can make the difference in how stressed you are when the task is completed.

Take a Bird’s Eye View of the Task

What do you see? What is the overall objective and result when finished? Stephen Covey says to start with the end in mind. Knowing why you are doing this work can cause your appoach to be more creative and align with your work style. This planning can take as much as a day but will save you time in the long run. Don’t rush to get started. Stay calm to plan it all out.

Chunk the Task into Manageable Bites

Yes, the elephant adage is not just a fun thing; it is a critical tool to use in addressing the bigger tasks. We usually know way more than we actually implement. This is one of those often forgotten lessons that fail to make it to the production site.

How can you piece this into smaller bites to accomplish one at a time? With that comes the sense of accomplishment of actually getting somewhere. This goes a long way to balancing the amount of stress involved. Instead of it building, it will stay level or in best case scenario, decrease.

Break Down the Deadlines to Match Bites

Once the overall task is divided, then divide the deadline date into the appropriate timelines to match the bites. You allot a certain amoount of time to accomplish each and work to meet that deadline. For the time being, forget about the final deadline. If you meet each of these, you can’t help but meet the final one.  Don’t forget to add the final review time when the task is completed. You’ll want time to go over your work rather than just rush to push it out without another glance.

I guess a final word could be added here…okay, maybe two!  Don’t forget to breathe. Don’t forget to balance your work with leisurely time with family and friends, or maybe even some self-care alone time. Defeat the stress before it defeats you.

Coypright 2019 Merri Macartney. Merri works with organizations that want to merge laughter and learning to boost morale, reduce stress and enhance the wellbeing of their staff.

Email: Merri@merrimacartney.com

Twitter: @Speaker_Merri

Phone: 519-881-6339

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MerriMacartneySmartyPants

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/MerriMacartney

For more information on Merri’s business check out http://www.merrimacartney.com

We talk about the speed of cars in terms of how fast they can get from zero to sixty and that is measured in seconds. After all, it is so really very important that our car will spring us into action at a stop light so we can be first at the next one. Is this a status symbol? For some it is.

Is the crux of the problem with road rage why people are demanding to get to where they are going faster?

What else has to go faster? Download speeds, when we want the next hit song or movie, become part of the negotiations in purchasing new computers. It used to be that we had fast food but with the increase in choices now the delivery has not sped up but rather slowed down so that it is no longer fast but merely FUN or convenient. And of course all of our communications have become faster as we no longer need to wait to connect with someone as they are simply a text away.

One of the aspects of our lives that has sped up and it is not a good thing is how we have a tendency to lose our cool. Rather than try to remain calm and ask for clarification, emotions get riled and we spring to our defenses. Often this done without taking that pause to see just how a statement might have been meant. Thinking the worst right away and reacting badly has caused many broken relationships.

For one of my seminars, I illustrated an experiment. I took a pot and put a couple of cups of cold water in it and put it on the highest setting on my stove. Then I timed how long it would take for the water to boil. The result was 8 minutes. Twenty minutes later I took the same pot with the same water which was not merely hot not boiling and put it on the same stove at the same setting. How long do you think it took to boil? You know this, don’t you.

The result was 2 minutes.

It is clearly evident by this that if we are going around all the time being a little “hot under the collar” it will be much easier and will be considerably faster to boil over and really lose our cool. Hence the tired old phrases about staying cool, keep your cool and cool off are so important. We need to cool down before we boil over. And speed is of the essence.

Have you ever said things you didn’t mean but said in haste when angry?  I think we all have done so at one time or another.  We were too anxious, angry, agitated – hot under the collar – to think carefully and slowly.  We spoke too fast and blurted out things that ought not to have been said.

The sad part about these hastily spoken words is that you can’t undo what damage they might have caused. No one can unring the bell; repair what has been broken; or forget we ever saw the dimming of the light in someone’s eyes.  Fast doesn’t count here.

For the sake of the people in our lives, we must tend to the fires that keep burning and keep us just on the edge of boiling over.  The trick here is not let ourselves get so hot in the first place.  Wouldn’t it be safer for all  if we would monitor our core temperatures?  When we find our temperatures rising how can we best turn down the thermostat?  That will be different for each of us.

10 Tips to Lower Our Temperature:

• a cold shower is always a good choice
• read something meditative/inspirational/comedic/etc
• setting regular routines to acquire sufficient sleep
• take up drinking – water that is to stave off dehydration which can seriously affect moods
• find time to play again
• hang out with friends and don’t talk shop
• get outside for some fresh air and go for a walk
• eat so blood sugars are stable and there are no crashes
• sit where the scenery is breathtaking and awe inspiring
• your favourite pastime hobby

These are just a few that could work for most of us.  Find a couple that you could turn to immediately if you need to. Sometimes we need to drop that temperature in a hurry; other times we’ve got some leeway.  It is important for us to know ourselves and how best to handle our inclinations. Maintaining a lower range of temperature is the healthiest choice for ourselves, our relationships and for our careers.

If you like what you’ve read, why not sign up for The Smarty Pants Way?  

Both my hubby and I had spent five weeks teaching summer school and our reward was to rent a cottage for a week on the shores of Lake Huron followed by this road trip.  We were exhausted when we arrived at the cottage and the location was spectacular with its world famous sunsets.  For all that week it was easy to think about making a cottage part of our summer experience.

Then we hit the road and traveled across the norther shore of Georgian Bay and Lake Superior. Atop every hill was a breathtaking scene and it became apparent that with a cottage one would miss all this and be land locked to one place.  A motor home became the obvious choice until we hit the marina at Thunder Bay.

It was there that the decision to buy a sailboat was formed.  However, neither my husband nor I knew how to sail, had never sailed nor been passengers aboard someone else’s boat.  But we remained unrelenting in our decision. We were teachers and we could learn. And learn we did.

Did you know that for most things there is a specific language.  We needed to learn it; the vocabulary, the phrases and the expressions.  Ever try to buy something that you have no idea about?  How on earth do you ensure that you will be a) taken seriously and b) not taken advantage of?  We learned that we needed to have a survey taken of the boat which is the same in principle as a home inspection when buying a home.  That would help take care of b).

Today more than ever before people aren’t so much relying on sales people to tell or teach them the particulars of an item they are interested in purchasing.  With the internet, they do most of that due diligence and research on their own so they are informed when entering a purchasing stage.  The decision-making is mostly done before they even speak to a sales person.

We did a lot of searching on the internet and my hubby did a lot of reading over the following winter.  When summer came around it was time to start looking. Marinas are full of boats with ‘For Sale’ signs on them so we visited many.  On a very hot summer’s day we found ourselves standing on a dock watching a couple rig (add all the attachments) their boat.  I guess we were drooling because when they’d finished they asked us out on their maiden voyage of the season.  There was no doubt about it; we wanted a sailboat.

That summer we met many sailors, talked to buyers and sellers alike and learned the lingo. Our communication skills improved with every encounter.  By the time we found THE boat for us, we could ask intelligent questions and understand the answers.  We were of like minded when it came time to purchase.

We did sound like we knew what we were talking about at least during the sales process. However, when it was just hubby and me out there putting our theory to the test, it was quite a bit different.

If you’d been aboard you’d have heard him say this to me…”Grab that thing….No….not that thing, the other thing!”