Three

Have you ever really noticed that things seem to come in threes?!  When something bad happens, I find myself trying to find two other bad things so that the badness is over.  I'm not sure if that carries over to good things, but it's probably a good idea to look for three things to be thankful for as well.  I even remember from 9th grade grammar class that, to write an effective paragraph, you should write a topic sentence then three more supporting sentences. 

So, why am I fixating on threes?  Because I'm also finding that I can only really seem to accomplish three things in a day.  Now, sometimes, each thing has subparts, but the point is that my to-do list for the day can have as many things on it as I want to put, but it seems that only three of them really get done!  So, why fight it, go with it.  Remember my tip for sitting down and listing all of the things you need to get done on one side of a folded (lengthwise) page?  Well, now, pull out a red pen or a highlighter and mark the three things that you are going to accomplish first.  Tomorrow morning, do the same thing.  Before you know it, all of the items on the list will either get done or you'll discover you can do without it!  Ok, get going!

Slacker

Thank you all so much, especially all of you from the Creating the Hive community, for your kind and encouraging words.  I think I've almost put this situation behind me (and a few others I didn't tell you about!), and your advice to deal with it then shake it off really helped confirm my instincts. 

And I got to thinking about putting things into perspective, to really focus on realistically prioritizing the important tasks and figuring out where I can/should let things slide.  At the same time, I came across this helpful article on procrastination and stress (by the way, if you're not familiar with http://www.smartbrief.com/, I would highly recommend their daily newsletters on topics like leadership, your career, and social media).  There is a lot to be said for just waiting, a bit, to see what's really going to need your attention and what's going to take care of itself without your having to drop everything.

So, I haven't gone totally slacker, but I did sit down in a quiet room with a cup of tea, a piece of paper, and a pen.  I folded the paper in half, length-wise, and started to list on one side the things that I felt were priorities, the stuff that just has to get done.  I'd flip over to the other side when I thought of listing something that would be nice to do, but wasn't urgent or really necessary.  Once I'd emptied my brain, I just sat and drank some tea, breathing deeply.  Then, I went back to the list to start scheduling some dates by which I hoped to accomplish some of the listed tasks, not to create hard-and-fast deadlines or to stress myself out, but to sketch out if these tasks and timelines are realistic and to confirm that everything really does belong on the priority side of the page.  All of this didn't even take that long, but I sure felt better afterwards.  I did this a couple of days ago, and, a few times a day since, I have looked at that list to see if I can check a task or two off or if I need to modify the timeline.  Of course, as old things get done and checked off, new items get added to the list, but at least you're not trying to keep all of it in your head!  I hope this is helpful, and I'd love to hear about any systems you are using.