Finding Hope in Small Accomplishments

Have you ever felt too overwhelmed so you just choose to give up and do nothing instead? Trust me, I have been there before too. It’s really understandable to be in a place where your mind, heart, and body just can’t find the energy to tackle the task at hand, even when you know you need to for your highest good.

Here’s the think though: you are so capable! Everything you need to be able to face what ahead of you is already within you. Does that mean you have all the answers? Not necessarily. But I DO believe that once you get going, you’ll easily be able to find the answers along the way.

I believe the trick is to break up the overwhelm into a small and manageable pieces that you are SO capable of. This will inspire you, give you renewed hope, and get you going.

10 minutes to tackle any overwhelming task

Here’s the strategy I use to help me with the most DAUNTING tasks. I’ll use an example that’s relatively simple, then I’ll give a more complicated example from my own life and how I’ve applied this.

10 Minute Rule

Ask yourself, what can you plan or DO in a 10 minute window to help you toward the task at hand.

Example: Cleaning Your Room

Set a timer for 10 minutes and pick just ONE task, like clearing all the dirty dishes and bringing them to the kitchen. Then, maybe that only took 3 minutes, I’ll throw all the trash away next. Still have 3 minutes left? Okay I’ll make the bed. Timer goes off- now you choose, do you have time and capacity for another 10 minute chunk? If so start over, and if not, then be done with it.

You can do this every hour, every day, or once a week depending on what you need to get done!

I know that this example for some might seem a little arbitrary, but for others I know that even organizing your rooms can feel like a huge task that feels like a big mountain to climb. We all have different versions of what hard is for us, with our own mental blocks as to why it’s so challenging.

For me I tend to get overwhelmed by things that I don’t feel I have enough knowledge around like preparing taxes, figuring out insurance, doing a monthly budget, etc. At one time in my life, I literally believed I could never start my own business because I didn’t think I was capable of the “hard parts” like the accounting and the handling the money/contracts, etc. But there came a time when push came to shove that I took those leaps, and found out just how capable I was of those tasks (even if I never learned to love them).

Know Your WHY:

A simple key to success is having a good WHY. It might sound silly, but actually stating and owning your why- putting it into words and having it to recall, or even SEE somewhere will ALWAYS Help you.

For example, when Dave left his job to join our photography/videography business full time we had to figure out a solution for health insurance. Knowing that I wanted our family to be protected if there was a health emergency was more than enough motivation to figure out the overwhelming logistics of how we could get our own health insurance.

I tackled this in small chunks by first just making 1 phone call to my accountant to pick their brain. They were able to give me info, but ALSO refer me to a health insurance broker. The next 10 minute chunk was a convo with that broker that walked me through the options. Then I could make a choice. Which led to a series of steps I needed to take. And VOILA we’re all set and ready to go now. I look back now and think- that wasn’t SO bad.

Hopefully this helps, and if you want more of my expanded thoughts on this topic you can listen the following episode of the A Bit From Within Podcast: “Finding Hope in Small Accomplishments”. Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts! In this episode I talk about the 10 minute rule, and also how it fits into tackling some of the stuff that’s become more difficult with a lack of motivation from the grief and overwhelm of navigating life during the pandemic. Check it out and let me know all your thoughts.