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As we enter the final month of a very tumultuous year, many of us are likely feeling overwhelmed by the many tasks we're yet to complete. For some, this may be the weight of unmet personal or professional goals; for others, the long list of tasks that the holiday season will surely bring.
Whilst stress can sometimes feel very isolating, these fears and feelings are, in fact, widespread, particularly at this time of year. 'Holiday stress' is a phenomenon that's been well established over the last decade. A 2011 poll by the American Psychological Association found that nearly a quarter of Americans reported feeling 'extreme stress' during the holiday period, with 69% admitting the feeling of having a 'lack of time' is a significant stressor.
In 2015, a Healthline survey found that 62% of people described their stress as being 'somewhat' or 'very' elevated during the holiday season. Most recently, a 2019 survey conducted by OnePoll for Joy Organics found that 88% of individuals feel that the festive season is the most stressful time of the year.
As Christmas rolls around once more, holiday stress will likely return with gusto. Moreover, this year the usual stresses and strains of the season will undoubtedly be compounded by the current climate. After all, the American Psychological Association (APA) found that 2 in 3 adults (67%) say they have experienced increased stress over the course of the pandemic, and this will naturally affect the manner in which the population enters this unusual Christmas period.
Yet despite this unprecedented increase in stress, so many of us set ourselves additional goals to meet over the holiday period, trying to cram far too much into the year's remaining days. It doesn't matter whether you're trying to get ahead on a work project over the Christmas break or are determined to serve homemade rather than shop-bought stuffing at your table, we're all guilty of over-burdening ourselves during an already busy period. Unfortunately, generating these numerous tasks undermines our productivity, as the energy that we use to keep all those additional jobs and ideas floating around in our heads is energy that we are not directing towards our current tasks.
Moreover, our mental to-do lists lack any form of physical limit, and as such, they will keep growing. Unless you find a way to enforce a hard limit, your mind will keep adding tasks to your mental checklist, which can be incredibly overwhelming and undermine your ability to work effectively. Luckily, there are three key steps that you can take to challenge this problem:
1. Reframe your thoughts. The next time that you find yourself thinking 'I have too much to do', stop yourself, this sentence is far too open-ended, and reiterating it allows your brain to generate more 'necessary' tasks continually. Instead, try telling yourself that you 'have enough tasks to be getting on with', this thought isn't open-ended, and thus will put a mental limit on the tasks that you currently have, improving your focus and reducing the risk of overwhelm.
2. Have a clear understanding of the issue at hand. You don't have a time management problem; you have a prioritization problem. Productivity is not about time management; time is fixed and infinite; it isn't something you can control. Every single person on this planet has 168 hours a week, if you have too many tasks to complete within that time, it's because you have given yourself too much to do, so re-examine your list and recognize that many of the tasks on it are not a priority.
3. Prioritise like a ninja. The final step is a prioritization exercise I love called a 'Brain Dump' exercise. It’s an activity that involves taking five minutes to write everything related to that project that comes to mind onto a piece of paper. This is not a ‘to-do’ list per se, but rather a dumping ground for all the stuff swirly in your head. Your ‘to-do’ list will eventually be created out of what you’ve dumped on this piece of paper. Conducting this brain dump exercise will allow release the pressure and give your brain a break from trying to retain all that information for you, thus giving you the space to concentrate on the day's tasks.
Once you’ve finished the exercise, the next step is to zoom out and review your dump sheet. It should be easier to see all the tasks you do need to complete, giving you a chance to re-arrange them in order of priority. So, highlight the crucial tasks that must be done, tasks that could be outsourced to someone else, and tasks that are no longer necessary. It’s from this priority list that you can create your weekly or daily to-do list.
I’d always recommend a daily ‘brain dump’ before starting your workday, as it helps clear some internal distractions so that you can focus on priority tasks that help you get high-value work done on time.
