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3 Things To Do When You’re Overwhelmed by To-Dos

These are the first things to do when you have no idea what to do first

During a recent zoom standup, I asked Gary, a manager, our ritual question “How are you doin’?”

“I’m overwhelmed.” As he recited the long list of his tasks for the day I could hear the tone of imminent burnout. “I’m not even sure where to start, but that’s what I gotta do.” He sighed, and passed the question on to the next staff member.

I reached out to him right after the meeting. “Hey, want a little help sorting through that list?” He eagerly accepted, and I laid out three things for him.

1: Pick 3.

Here’s a section of Gary’s list:

• Review t-shirt designs and contact vendor.
• Check on warehouse renovation work.
• Train warehouse staff on new SKU system
• Review website redesign progress.

There were several problems we identified pretty quickly with just those four:

1. Any one of these done well could easily take half a day — and that’s not including any incidental tasks or administrivia.
2. Three of them had non-specific outcomes or follow-up tasks.