Ever felt so overwhelmed by things that you don’t even feel like doing them?
I’ve felt that way quite a few times myself. Whether you call it a feeling of overwhelm, depression, feeling down or just plain stressed, the irony is that you’re not doing things in a time when things need to get done the most.
Over the years I’ve put into practice this little technique that almost always helps me to feel better about myself and start getting out of inaction and into action. And it starts with this little question:
“What’s one small thing I can do immediately that can help improve this situation?”
There are 2 parts to this little trick here:
1) It must be a small and easy action that you can do immediately. One reason why we get feelings of overwhelm is because we’ve blown up and multiplied all the things in our head that we feel we should be doing but aren’t.
Imagine you’re playing basketball, but instead of just bouncing one ball around, you’re expected to be juggling ten balls. That’s what your mind feels like it’s doing in a state of overwhelm.
So the trick here is to tell your mind to let go of all these balls…for the moment. And get back to bouncing this one ball first…and scoring the goal.
2) You must do this small action immediately!
Ideally you’ll want to pick an action that you can complete in 5 minutes or less. That way, it’s not only small, easy, but also fast.
The secret here is this, once you finish this small action step and get a ‘mini-high’ at knowing you’ve made this situation better, even just by a little bit, you won’t want to stop. Usually the momentum from this one little step will begin to propel you forward to the next step, and the next, and the next, and before you’ll know it, you’ll have already begun to feel better about yourself and gotten some things done.
Don’t just take my word for it, test it out!
November 14th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Alvin has given you the way to get out “INACTION” by “Small Thing Immediately”.
What next is how to get into “MASSIVE ACTION”
The next step after “Small Thing Immediately” is “Big Thing in next 36 hrs”
What’s one small thing and one big thing I can do that can help improve this situation?
Try it!
November 14th, 2005 at 10:20 pm
Yes, “TRY” it the first time, so that you can do it the next time.
November 15th, 2005 at 8:47 pm
What if you are too lazy to even consider doing the little things that needs doing? I usually focus on the pain that will come if I dont do the things that I need to do.
More often than not, I would think that the average joe would be lazy to even consider 5 minutes.
Thoughts?
November 16th, 2005 at 12:13 am
Thanks for the nice post. I have this problem myself, and I’ve come across some additional approaches via “Getting Things Done” (David Allen). Interested readers can check out my post ” Use the STING method to stop procrastinating” - http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2005/11/use-sting-method-to-stop.html
P.S. It’s really hard for me to read the security code in the image - I’ve tried three times now!
November 16th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
Hi Matthew!
Nice to have you around. I checked out your post and it sounds good.
I suppose the difference between the 2 techniques would be between the initial time investment agreed on.
I suppose a shorter time frame would be an easier agreement first for someone under stress and unable to ‘kick-start’ those necessary first few steps, while a longer time frame would be great for someone who’s already pretty ‘gung-ho’ for action.
P.S. Thanks for the feedback about the code…and your tenacity for leaving us your comment! I have the feeling you might not be the only one…looks like I’ve have to shop around for a new security option against those pesky spambots.
November 17th, 2005 at 10:50 am
Hi Dom,
Imagining the future pain of not doing something is a great way to get people off their asses (including mine).
If that lazy Joe doesn’t even want to consider 5 minutes, could he consider 4? Or 3? Or 2? Or 1?
Not even 1?
I think he needs a hot poke in the ass then
I think there are several tools for several different situations. Lazy is different from being apathatic.
If you really feel that bad that you can’t even muster up a 5 minute action then it’s either not the time or there might be something else going on. Is there something else in your life affecting you that you need to change?
A situation, a belief, a direction, or maybe just your diet?
Thoughts.