Starting with a clean slate

This morning, I looked at my Today view and I felt overwhelmed. Yesterday was very productive for me, partially because I recorded and published a new video for YouTube (see below).

But I had not planned to record that video, so I ended up not doing other tasks that I had planned to do yesterday. Those other tasks carried over to today. I had already scheduled some tasks for today, too, so the today list got very long—hence the overwhelm.

When this happens, be kind to yourself. Start with a clean slate.

Keep tasks that are due today, but remove all other tasks. Then appraise the time and energy you have today. Will you have time to do any tasks other than the ones due today? Then add a few tasks. Next, start working.

Starting from scratch resets your expectations. Rather than completing 12 out of 34 tasks, you may complete 12 out of 12. And that feels much better.