Prioritizing tasks when EVERYTHING seems urgent

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Recognize that you can’t do it all, and everything is not equally important

When your day starts to feel completely overwhelming, you may feel you're being pulled in every direction possible. You feel you have to be at every appointment, every treatment... you have a job, other children, your marriage, other family members may ask more of your time...

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If you’re not sure whether a task is important, ask yourself, What would happen if I didn’t do this?

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Determine which tasks are really critical by asking yourself, What will happen if don’t do this? Is this appointment one I don't want to miss? If I have to miss it, because something else needs my time right now, how can I obtain information from it? 

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Distinguish between the urgent and the important

Nearly every issue that pops up during the day seems like an emergency. This is especially true earth-shattering news and need our attention right away.

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However, urgent and important are not synonymous. Ask yourself, What will happen if I do this later?

Can this be handled in a few minutes? A few hours? A few days?

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Do not let other people’s last-minute requests drive your schedule. That doesn’t mean you ignore the work and let them down, it just means you choose a more convenient time to accommodate them.

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Get information out of your head and onto a list

Creating lists are essential to getting things done. If we don’t write something down, it takes up space in our minds which could otherwise be used for -

focused and productive work AND healing and resting.

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Holding information in our minds is also very stressful. You will feel like you can never stop thinking about things if you are trying to remember everything you need to do. It will also leave you ruminating, which leads to an entire spiral of physiological effects. So when you’re lying in bed at night or grocery shopping and you suddenly think of a task, write it down, and then dismiss the thought from your mind.