Struggling to juggle...?

It's easy to feel overwhelmed, right? I can try to use a Johari window to organise tasks into 'urgent-but-not-important ' etc. - but those boundaries get blurred, and new tasks keep on coming into the inbox.

However, I have found that a useful strategic approach for juggling multiple competing tasks, and therefore reducing the feeling of overwhelm, is to simultaneously identify 'quick wins' - tasks that can be completed within 5 minutes or less that help to reduce (or sometimes offset) your workload - and those of the highest personal importance, and ensuring that I allocate time to them early in the day. A good example is this morning, where I have managed to deal with several tasks relating to my job as an academic, but I have also found time to type this blog - albeit that it's a brief one.

Oh, getting up early is also hugely helpful for 'stealing a march' on the day - but it requires an earlier bedtime: staying up to watch that box set really isn't important, trust me. ;)

So, now that I have successfully completed several tasks that were looming over my head, I can rate myself as follows...

On a scale of 0 [exceptionally low] to 10 [exceptionally high] (brief explanation in brackets):

My mood is a 7 (not inspired about several urgent-but-not-important tasks, to be honest)

My energy is a 10 (just a good night's sleep + one homemade sugar-free coffee)

My motivation to tackle the day's agenda after breakfast and school run: 7 (not bad, when considering most tasks are urgent-but-not-important!)

Watch this space - and don't forget to check out my motivational book, Motivation: The Manual, on Amazon!