Closing your brain tabs: 5 Simple hacks to minimise overwhelm

“Where are we meeting for the lunch hour presentation again? Oh that reminds me – what ingredients must I buy for dinner? I wish the leaf blower outside wasn’t so loud! Oh, and mum’s birthday is Saturday so I need to find her a gift. But when can I find the time because – oh no, I’m late for my presentation!”

Trying to stay present in a world full of distractions can feel impossible.

I used to struggle so much to stay focussed on the task in front of me.

How could I decide on a single project when I had multiple deadlines for the same week and my email inbox pinged every few minutes?

In trying to ‘multitask’ and address all my to-do’s at once, I wound up overwhelmed, frozen, and getting nothing done.

Through a combination of coaching and trial-and-error, I’ve discovered five hacks that stop me from adding additional tabs to my brain’s browser.

1. Take on a triage mindset: If you don’t know where to start with your to-do’s, divide them into three groups: the Do It’s for important and time-sensitive tasks, the Schedule It’s, for important tasks that aren’t urgent, and the Delegate It’s for tasks that are urgent but not important.

 

3. Limit distractions: Put your phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’, and play white noise through your noise-cancelling headphones.