The quickest way to get out of overwhelm is to create a tangible beginning and end. Put some boundaries on what you set out to do. Notice how great you feel when you complete it. Chunk your projects into smaller piece so you can see and feel them end.
Set boundaries
Define a few steps you need to take next. A very powerful way to set boundaries is to create in a series. A series has a beginning and end. It has a predetermined size. It is a short enough project to feel the satisfaction of completion. When I started my podcast “Reflections of a Deeper Song” I would have been overwhelmed if I didn’t break the possibilities down into smaller segments.
Cornerstone content builds a strong foundation
As with any project, the foundation is the key component. Why are you creating this? Who are you creating this for? What do they need to know first? What foundational information do you need to provide for them to ultimately get the big picture? The first element of any project is to create the cornerstone content that is the core explanation of the basic elements of the series. This clarifies your project for you as well as for those who will consume it.
Outline your ideas
Step into you beginner’s mind and begin to list the steps needed to understand your message. As you outline, capture those wisps of ideas you need to o bring into physical form. As you capture your ideas, organize them. Keep only the ideas that strengthen your message. Examine your outline for natural learning chunks. Those are the small segments you will work on with a tangible beginning and end that will keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
For instant, I began my podcast with Cornerstone Content just as I would in blogging or teaching a course. That episode clarified the direction of my work and generated ideas for future series. That choice of a foundational series allowed me to easily develop the first series of episodes. That’s it – a beginning and an end. As I work new ideas will emerge but confining my project to s series with a well-defined beginning and end, keeps me focused and assures that I complete my work.
Completion encouraged more completion
The more often I work in a well-defined and focusee series , the more I find my completion and posting rate increasing I have five posts in the Find Your Tribe series. I wrote them easily because the ideas built upon each other. They flowed so easily that I was able to schedule them ahead and suddenly I had free time to focus on another project! See how that works?!
Keep your work short
Writing in a series also helps me develop an idea and still keep my content short. That means I can complete a post more efficiently. I can produce a short video. I can focus on expanding one concept at a time. In this day of information overload, that makes my work more consumable
Keep your To Do List short
I choose “Three Impactful Things To Do Today.” I do them. With whatever left over time I have, I do something else.
My days have a focused a topic: Monday-Articles, Tuesday- Podcasts, Wednesday-Production, Thursday-Courses/Videos, Friday-Loose Ends, Saturday and Sunday – “Me Day.”. Each day Having a specific focus for each day steadily moves each aspect of my work further towards completion.
Having a tangible beginning and end eliminates feelings of overwhelm
Create a tangible beginning, middle and end that can be done in the period of time you have assigned to work on it. If I have an hour, my goal is not to proof an entire ebook, but it could be to edit and proof two chapters. That gives me a feeling of success, of completion, of moving the project forward. End is not “The End”. It is the end of that small chuck that you have chosen to move from the beginning to the end.
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca
How will you chunk your work down into a tangible beginning and end?
To Sing a Deeper Song consider:
01-How The Deeper Song Community Emerged (podcast, 20 minutes)
02– The Hole In Our Life Called Loneliness (podcast, 20 minutes)
03- Planting Roots and the Fundamental Need for Security (podcast, 20 minutes)
How to Manage Your Energy to Become More Productive
Nature Does Not Have Deadline, Why Should We?
One Way to End Procrastination
View Decisions as Experiments, not Final Choices.
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