The Impossible Task

So, I'm re-vamping my website a little this week, and there are a lot of things that need to get done. It feels overwhelming, even though none of the tasks I have planned will take me very long.

This is one symptom of anxiety and depression, the impossible task, you get so easily overwhelmed by things that it feels almost impossible to even start. So I thought I would share with you guys my plan to overcome this in the hope that it will help me stick to the plan, and that will help others who may find themselves in a similar place in their lives.

Step one: Treat the Mental Illness

You may be able to power through (and you will need a little of grit and determination for this process) but ultimately things will be a lot easier if you can do something to ease the anxiety/depression.

Here are some of my go-to's:

• Talk about your feelings with a trusted friend, or therapist (or blog about it here)
• Practice mindfulness meditation to put things in perspective
• Pick a different, smaller task. Something easily accomplished to get the momentum going.
• Try to figure out what it is about the task that is so daunting, if you can find out what monster you are fighting, it will be easier to slay.
• Exercise, it makes a huge difference in the way you see a problem
• Practice self care: eat right, be active, SLEEP.

The tricks above are just the tip of the ice berg in terms of ways to self-treat anxiety and depression. If you haven't seen a medical professional about your anxiety/depression, I urge you to do so.

Starting my anxiety medication really set me on the right path. Medication may not be for everyone, and you may need to try a few different things to get the right medication at the right dose, but for some people it can go a long way towards leading a fulfilling life.

Step 2: Make A Plan

Break up your one large task into several smaller tasks. If we were doing dishes, for example, it would be easy to say that doing dishes IS a small task. However, even that can be broken down into steps:

1. Put the plug in the drain
2. Run your dishwater
3. Add soap
4. Put dishes in the soapy water

And so forth and so on.

The same is true for virtually everything we do in life. There are always smaller steps. So write those out. What individual things need doing, and what order will be the most efficient to complete each step?

Step 3: Follow Through

This is where that grit and determination come in.

Ultimately, nothing happens if you don't follow through on that plan. Nothing and no one but you can take that first step for you.

However, there are things we can do to make that easier too.

For me, the trick that works best is to tell myself that I only have to do one task: complete step one. Generally, once I do that and get started, it's easier, and more natural for me to say, "while I'm here, I might as well do the next thing too."

Before you know it you have made great strides towards meeting your goal.

Obviously this is easier if you don't have a specific timeline. While it is a good idea to get things done with my website ASAP, I also know that the world won't end if it takes me a little longer than I had planned.

If you do have to meet a specific deadline, it can be helpful to schedule the tasks, and plan breaks in between each one. Say you want or need to get a post written.

You might start by researching the subject: finding articles or other reviews of a product to site and save them to your computer, or write them down. There is one task done, take a short break! A hot bath sound nice? Have you had breakfast yet?

Next, read through the articles more thoroughly, write down or make note of anything you'd like to include in your post. Done? Good Job! Take another short break, maybe a walk in the park?

See where I'm going with this? Even just 5 minute breaks between tasks can help keep you from becoming further overwhelmed, and make the project feel less daunting; because, really, it's only a handful of smaller things, and not the one massive thing that you need to get done "RIGHT NOW!"

Final Thoughts

Even for someone without anxiety/depression, large projects can feel daunting. I hope that the ideas in this blog help put things into perspective, and help you finish that project.

Always remember WHY the task is important. In my current situation, I want to make my website more user-friendly and therefore start (hopefully) getting better traffic.

There's also the bigger picture of why building out my website is important: my long term goal of being able to pay the bills on affiliate marketing income. I (like you) deserve to be able to live my best life, and a career spent writing and being creative (a few of my favorite things) sounds pretty nice.