You’d think that at after four decades and multiple degrees, it would be the first thing that pops in my head when faced with an overwhelming or even just plain old confusing task.
A big project is hanging over my head. I’m hyperventilating, seeing no way to tackle something this large. How can I get it done and done right? There’s just no way it can be done. NO. WAY. NO. HOW. NO. SIREEEE.
I’ve been teaching my kids this from the day they were born. Faced with a huge task. Do we panic? Do we just throw our hands in the air and walk away? Do we sit down and cry? No. Or maybe we do at first, but then we come up with a plan. Whether it be for cleaning a horribly messy room, planning a five week trip on which we will spend almost every night in a new place, selling off half our possessions to move to a smaller space, or for an overwhelming project at work.
We simply “Break it down.” And “Get it done.”
And, so, today at work, I stopped panicking. And broke it down. And got it done.
Now if only I could figure out how to skip the panic stage of the process.
I often wind up reminding myself of the trite, but true “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” What you say is true – if you just break it down into chunks and handle it one chunk at a time, it gets done. But I’ve also had those same moments of overwhelming panic and/or hopeless. Sometimes you just have to get a hold of yourself mentally and repeat your “chunk” mantra until it sinks in. Good luck with your tasks!
I have had to learn this lesson as an adult. I’m still working on it. My natural or maybe learned tendency is to panic, throw my hands up and put it off. I work on it and work with my kids on it. It is a work in progress. I repeat “baby steps” over & over.