Summary

The author presents a personal system to manage and overcome work-related overwhelm through a 3-Point Plan focusing on finishing tasks, making progress on larger projects, and starting new tasks in a controlled manner.

Abstract

The author, an accountant facing the regular busy period at month's end, shares their struggle with overwhelming workload and life responsibilities. They describe the bottleneck they've become due to unfinished tasks, constant interruptions, and the demands of personal life. To regain control, they develop a 3-Point Plan, referred to as F — P — S, which stands for Finish, Progress, and Start. This system aims to prioritize tasks for completion in the morning, progress on projects during periods of lower energy, and starting new tasks with minimal commitment to keep the momentum going. The author concludes that this method prevents stagnation and allows for a smooth transition through tasks, preventing a relapse into overwhelming situations both at work and home.

Opinions

The author acknowledges personal responsibility for their overwhelm and the need for a more effective system.
They emphasize the importance of capitalizing on personal productivity patterns, such as being more productive in the morning.
There is a recognition that failing to complete tasks before starting new ones contributes significantly to feelings of being overwhelmed.
The author believes in the power of journaling to clarify thoughts and identify practical steps to improve productivity.
They express the value of having a structured plan to manage tasks and energy levels throughout the day, which includes setting aside dedicated time for high-priority tasks.
There is an acknowledgment that external distractions (like emails and family responsibilities) can derail plans, but a well-structured system can help mitigate this.
The author suggests that even small steps towards progressing or starting tasks can prevent the day from being consumed by others' demands.

My Simple 3-Point System To Tame Overwhelm and Win Your Day

Use this system if you’re the one holding it all together whilst simultaneously holding it all up.

I’m feeling overwhelmed, and if truth be told, I’m the reason for it.

I’m an accountant and as anyone involved in finance will know, the weeks around the end of the month can be frantically busy. The end of last month was no exception, but even though I know I’m going to be busy with deadlines, all the other stuff fails to notice this and annoyingly still keeps coming at me.

Stuff like, people who just need a moment of my time, the unrelenting email barrage, the never-ending queries, questions and requests, the thing I meant to do but forgot that’s now urgent, and that doesn’t even touch the fact that I need to exercise, eat, sleep and sort all the usual family attractions like laundry, home admin, vet appointments…

The upshot is, that I’m the bottleneck. I’m the one holding it all together whilst simultaneously holding it all up.

So while I wait for the light at the end of the tunnel to go on, I turn to my journal to rant about the unfairness of it all and maybe even find a way forward:

I’m feeling overwhelmed with the things I’ve got on the go. I’ve got a lot of things in progress, some quite close to being finished, but I haven’t pushed them over the line yet. Then there are some other things that still need some serious effort to get them finished in the mix too.

All of this is causing problems because newer tasks are backing up and I can’t bring them on to my projects or recurring lists.

I desperately need to get some things over the finish line today.

Just getting those thoughts out of my head helped me get some perspective on why I was feeling so overwhelmed.

Sometimes, even though I know the month-end deadlines are going to put everything else on the backburner, I still keep pushing through as many tasks as I can anyway.

The outcome was, that by the time I started working on my month-end deadlines, I had left a number of other tasks and projects is various states of (in)completion. Post month-end, these things had now come back to bite.

My journal whinge continued:

I know I’m more productive in the morning. It’s the time I feel most optimistic that I can get a decent amount of work done and it’s the time that either (1) people are not around yet and/or (2) they just haven’t started pestering me yet.

The trouble is, once the day crowds in, it’s so easy to lose sight (and control) of what I said I was going to do and instead get drawn into everyone else’s problems and demands.

So how am I going to fix this? How am I going to (1) get stuff finished and moved on so I can free up space on my list and schedule? and (2) how am I going to regain some sort of control of my day?

By now, my brain was starting to whirr with practical ideas to get things moving forward, and, specifically to find ways to get things over the finish line.

My 3-Point Plan

For a long time I’ve used this little acronym, which, if I can stick with it, ensures a reliable flow to my work.

The acronym is based around a focus on finishing: finish tasks, finish projects, basically, finish anything you start so that it’s not hanging around your neck for too long.

This is it: F — P — S and it stands for Finish — Progress — Start

With this now in mind, I carried on with my journal entry to answer the two questions I’d posed. These were the answers I wrote down:

(1) I’m going to pick out 1–2 things every day this week that have a reasonable chance of getting finished and I’m going to give them a daily priority time/slot or whatever method works.

(2) To take back control of my day I need to be started early. It’s the quiet time before the world crowds in.

A good plan I thought, but would it work?

Monday Morning

So, Monday morning rolled around, and it was a day I was working from home, so no commute which was a bonus and much easier to get started early.

F = Finish

I turned to my list of tasks, and, using F — P — S to guide my choices, I looked for tasks or projects that I could push over the finish line.

There were two that were almost complete and so with a little effort I had them out of the door by 10.00am! That felt good and upped my motivation quota to keep going.

I scanned my list again and found a third task that could get the same treatment and knocked that one out of the park too.

It’s At Full Volume

By now it was after 11am, and the world was wide-awake. My email alerts were keeping up their incessant pinging, my messages needed checking and I could feel the tug to get some laundry on the go.

In other words, the day was now at full volume and I could no longer see my plans for the ruckus of the day, so I dived in to deal with whatever needed my “immediate” attention.

Fast-forward a couple of hours and the din began to lower enough, so that I was able to focus back on my plan again.

P = Progress

By now, my energy levels have depleted and so I start looking for the “P” items on my list. These are the things I can progress so that when I next get to them they’ll be closer to the finish line.

I choose two longer term projects to move forward and get to work. For these, I do as much as I can in the time I have available. These haven’t moved to “F” yet, so no pressure to reach the finish line.

S = Start

Then, with the last of the day, I turn back to my overarching list and look at what isn’t even started — the “S” tasks. What was I ready to commit to moving forward?

I picked out three tasks and did the bare minimum to get them moving by setting up files and saving relevant documents, noting down next actions and any contact details.

From tomorrow onwards these are part of the “P” tasks, so I’m careful not to overload my system by starting too many things at the same time, otherwise it’s straight back to Overwhelmsville.

A Good Outcome

I find this little system works well to get out of overwhelm because the initial focus is on finishing stuff when I’ve got the most energy to carry things through.

It then supports my waning energy levels by demanding less of me as the day goes on, but, importantly, it doesn’t allow me to grind to a halt.

I’ve used the system in work and at home and find it works equally well. Just keep your list up to date, don’t overload it by bringing on too many things at once and then just keep with the flow.