- Mike Michalowicz

For example, I do a lot of technical work and while I was waiting for a video to encode (hour long process) I started hacking around with a Wireless FM transmitter to see if I could get better performance. The video process finished first and rather than make the decision I carefully (and quickly) packed the pieces of the FM transmitter into a box, along with a note about what I was doing and what needs to be done, and place it in storage with other projects that have been doomed to a similar fate.

If I ever have nothing to do, I’ll pull out one of these projects and finish it, however the majority of the time they linger for weeks/months and then get thrown away.

I know full well that I will never get to these projects, but it gets rid of the mental pain related to abandoning them.

Often I find that I become a victim of “if I don’t do xxxxxxx, then the world will cease to spin on its axis, and life as we know it will end!!”. In reality, there are very few things on my list that are really that vital. Realizing this makes it easier to drop the things that just don’t matter all that much.

When things are really insanely busy then taking the time out for a half hour “me” time on my bike in the fresh air clears my head and helps me prioritise so much better for the rest of the day.

The first to map out what is actually in my life at the moment, then subsequent ones shaped how I’d like my life to be. With enough navel gazing I soon find tasks that I don’t really enjoy, don’t hold that much priority but seem to spend ages over – they’re the first against the wall.

I also make lists based on how frequently I want to give things attention. So I won’t feel hard done by if I only get to do some of my hobby (photography) once a week or so (but longer than a fortnight and I get rusty), but I will go INSANE if I don’t write something every day (and neither will I achieve my goals). Housework is more sufferable for me a little each day rather than one massive blitz at the weekend. You get the idea.

Mostly though, I completely empathise. Over the last few months I’ve felt a bit like I was drowning, not waving and have cut things right back to the bare minimum (and am subsequently now bored, hey ho – no pleasing me). I never seem to find a happy medium – just bounce between states of boredom and overstretched.

Now going to read all the previous comments properly and find out what everyone else does

Personally, when I am overwhelmed in my personal life I go with my sanity (health) first, then family, then everything else.

This is extremely rare, as urgent priorities often nudge their way to the head of the queue. If I’m cooking, and I have three pots on the stove, and 2 pans in the oven, my urgent priority will scream out to me in the form of smoke (something burning) or hot screaming pain (when something flies out of the pot because the water is boiling too hard).

I find that other tasks seem to follow this pattern. Rarely will my tasks sit quietly, and let me arrange or organise them into what I think would be nice. Rather, they often self-sort. If those nuts in the oven are on the verge of burning, I’d better see to them NOW, and let the vegetables simmer away a little bit longer.

I’m such a meathead when I’m stressed that I actually keep my list of prioritized values on the back of a business card in my wallet. I also keep a list as a “Post Item” in Outlook just in case I’m too fried to dig into my wallet.

I don’t have a 1,2,3 list of values, but more in tiers. If competing priorities crop up on different values in the same tier, then I try to pick the one that adds value to other tasks. If no such synergy exists, then I do what my youngest daughter would do…

I write the lot of them on pieces of paper and pick ‘em out of a ball cap, grinning at my impishness.