How to Balance Having a Lot of Things to Do – 6 Tips for Not Going Crazy

Multi-tasking. It’s a nightmare, yet strangely fulfilling when a plan comes together.

If you find that there aren’t enough hours in the day to complete all the tasks you need, then this advice is for you!

I’m quite well qualified on this subject. I’m a full time worker by day, and a self-employed writer by night. Although I don’t wear my underpants on the outside of my tights, I sometimes feel like I should, because having a to-do list as long as your arm isn’t a fast track way to fun; that being said however, when you enjoy what you do, it’s easy to find ways to stop it getting to you.

1) Delegate!

This isn’t the coward’s way out, it’s simply a way to keep yourself sane! If you’re finding that when you get home from work, you have housework, ironing, cooking, and then your side job to do, why not look at ways you can streamline that list, by getting your significant other to cook every other day? Or if you have kids, set a rota for doing the dishes. As for ironing? Well, if you trust your other half to do it, then go for it, but if you don’t, give yourself a set time of the week where you’ll dedicate that to ironing.

These delegated tasks don’t always have to be about housework either, it’s simply a case of looking at the things you need to do, and finding out if anyone could possibly help you out from time to time.

2) Order of importance

Prioritising is the only way to get through a list as long as your arm. I write a list, literally, I write it all down, and I figure out which job is most important, and in my case it’s which deadline is the nearest, and then I tackle that first. Cross the jobs off your list as you’re doing them, as this will give you a sense of achievement. Once that job is finished, move onto the second most important, and so on, and so on. It’s no good doing smaller jobs that aren’t as pressing, so you put off doing the larger ones that are starting to glow red in importance!

3) Set realistic timescales and deadlines

If the jobs you’re doing are for work, like in my case, then be realistic about when you can complete the task. Don’t say ‘oh I can do it tomorrow’ because you feel like you’ll have failed if you have to admit you can’t complete the job until four days later. Setting realistic deadlines means you’ll have the time to do the job to the best of your ability, not rushed just to tick it off a list. Quality is everything, and if you’re trying to reach impossible deadlines, you’ll only get stressed, which is never a good thing – believe me!

4) Don’t take on too much

There are only so many hours in one day, and a few of them you do need to sleep and eat, so don’t take on too much. You’re not a failure if you have to say ‘no’. Remember to factor socialising into your day, or even sitting and reading a book for an hour, it’s important to recharge those batteries, and you trying to take on the world within the space of 24 hours isn’t going to work!

5) Give yourself a set day off, no excuses

I got to the point a few months ago when I was constantly working, literally non-stop; I’d go to work Monday to Friday, I’d come home, eat dinner, and then sit and write until I went to bed, often quite late. I then realised I was absolutely exhausted. You don’t have to be doing a manual job to be tired, and I find thinking what to write etc, can be mentally exhausting, which all mounts up to the same thing. You need time off! So, I decided I would have one full day off per week, and hopefully two, but on busy weeks I would settle for one day, and that for the most part, I would turn off my laptop at 8.30pm. It’s worked too, the bags under my eyes have shrunk quite considerably!

6) Remember, you are not an island

You are just one person, yes you’re a pretty awesome person, there’s no-one quite like you, but you’re not superman or superwoman, so don’t be so hard on yourself if you occasionally miss a deadline, or have to rearrange something. It’s all about balance, and a work/home balance, or even a day to day duty/social life balance is just as important as your job – we’re talking about your health and wellbeing, and what’s more important than that?

Hopefully these tips will have given you some ideas on how to chill the hell out and not stress so much about that huge to-do list. It will get done eventually, it’s just a case of getting the most important stuff out of the way first.

photo credit: flik Creative commons