Use These Top 3 Strategies When You Don’t Know Where To Start

“No matter what, the primary objective of any suppression operation is to protect life and property, as well as any valued natural and cultural resources.”

That quote comes from the US Department of the Interior's website on the topic of fighting wildland fires.

There are specific things in the path of any wild fire that must be protected before other things.

When faced with a large fire, devouring everything in its path, there are probably a million things to consider, but they already have a plan in place for what is most important to protect before dealing with anything else. While the other things may feel just as important, they know where they need to put their primary focus.

They are prioritizing their goals and objectives.

You’re only one person

While you may not be out in the forest fighting physical fires, feeling overwhelmed when you're faced with too many to-do's can feel like you're surrounded by metaphorical fires. The alarms are going off and it feels like everything needs your attention at the same time.

The reality is, there is only one You. One You with two hands, a focus that tends to wander, and just 24 hours in a day. It is impossible to tackle everything at the same time—no matter how important each thing may feel. You can only handle one thing at a time. You have to start deciding where to start before the whole thing becomes too hot to handle.

Below, I have shared you a few strategies you can put in your ADHD tool belt when you feel the heat of overwhelm taking over and you don't know where to begin.

• Big impact, little effort
  During a recent Coaching with Nikki event, we were discussing the topic of overwhelm. Someone in the group suggested how they decided where to begin: "What will decrease my suffering the most with the least amount of effort?" This is a great way to start working through your emergency to-do’s.

  Try going through your list and find the thing that will make a big impact toward decreasing the overall feeling of overwhelm, while not taking up too much time and effort. This gives you a big win to kick things off, but it doesn't cost a lot to get it done.

• Get rid of it
  What things on your list can you possibly eliminate all together? On a previous episode of The ADHD Podcast, friend of the show, Casey Dixon, shared her 5 D's strategy for battling overwhelm and reducing your workload.

1. Delete-Eliminate the things that no longer matter or the time limit has expired.

2. Delay-What things can you reasonably push back and get to at a later date?

3. Diminish-Break down the big tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces.

4. Delegate-Who can do the task instead of you?

5. Disappoint-What tasks did you say 'yes' to that maybe you need to go back and explain you are unavailable?

• Ask for help

  Fire fighters aren't expected to fight fires alone, and you don't have to feel like you have to tackle your looming piles of tasks and obligations alone, either. Even if you don't have someone close by that can physically help, there are always plenty of people in the Taking Control ADHD community that are willing to help in any way they can, whether it's a virtual body doubling session or an ear to listen as you verbally process your thoughts.

Remember to protect what is most important

Going back to the original quote from the DOI, the primary objective is to protect life. In our case with overwhelm, that means protecting yourself through mindfulness, compassion for yourself, and committing to self-care to help see you through. Because, when we come right down to it, the most important thing on your list should always be You.

Thank you for your time and attention,

Nikki

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Are you looking to learn more planning strategies like prioritizing? Guided Planning Sessions (GPS) Program may be just what you need!