Do this when you’re feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated

Can you think of a day when you felt utterly unmotivated to create content? 

A day when overwhelm or low energy gobbled up every tiny crumb of your motivation? 

I can think of a few. Many, actually.

Cozy up as you read this. Let me take you back to three days ago. 

It’s one o’clock in the afternoon and I’m staring out of my window.

It’s wintertime, and right now I’m in England.

A thick coat of dense gray is blanketing the rooftops, the brick house next door, the sidewalk, everything.

Or perhaps it’s all a reflection of my mood. 

I close the curtain.

Then my laptop.

I crawl into bed.

Curling up under the covers —my Tablet in hand—I know what’s coming next. Netflix or TikTok. Or maybe I’ll bounce around Medium and tell myself I’m doing research. 

My brain had decided to just….well…tune out. Diagnosis: paralysis by to-do list. Is that a condition? It should be.

Facing what seems to be too much to do, my mind raises a white flag and walks off the battlefield, surrendering in defeat. Even though I had narrowed down my to-do list to only the most important priorities. Still, I couldn’t get rid of a nagging feeling. I guess it was just one of those days. 

I folded my to-do list in two and tucked it into the sleeve of my notebook.

Out of sight.

Then, I decided to do one thing.

Just. One. Simple. Thing.

In my journal, I have a page at the back with a list of simple things I can do on days like this. They’re tasks I can do quickly, without much thought or inspiration.

Each of the ‘things’ isn’t even necessarily on my to-do list, but they’re still tasks that need to get done….eventually. I turned to the list and picked one that didn’t seem painful: delete a bunch of unnecessary emails.

I opened my email and start clearing my inbox.

Simple, effortless. You don’t need creativity or inspiration to clear emails. The emails that require more time (or brainpower), I just skip. Everything else hit the chopping block:  Open. Skip. Delete. Next.

Simple.

After about 35 minutes, I’m on a roll, not quite at full steam, but definitely not tempted back to bed.

I open my notebook, unfold my to-do list. Ah, my old friend, Mr to-do. You don’t look so evil now.

I make a random selection and start….working.

The rest of the day unraveled as usual: no mid-day Netflix or Facebook scroll-a-thon.  (It’s okay to have days like that, but it’s better to actively choose them, instead of being defeated by overwhelm.) 

Why this works

When you feel like zoning out (update: those times seem to happen even more frequently for most of us midlifers), giving in to those feelings makes it worse and makes it harder to start working again once you stop.

Taking action (even if it’s simple, uninspired action) fuels motivation.

It sounds like a riddle, but it’s not.

 Think of the concept of momentum. An object at rest tends to remain at rest. This is a basic concept of physics. But it’s universal for a reason. 

Now, it’s your turn.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or uninspired, I invite you to do just one thing.

Don’t complicate this. If your to-do list is making you nauseous, remove it from sight. Do something simple, yet productive. We’ve all got things that aren’t on our to-do list, but still need to be done.

Need ideas? Here are a few:

*Spend a few minutes clearing your inbox (but only tackle emails that you can spend less than 5 minutes on, leave the rest for scheduled email tasks another time).

*Organize your Evernote or Dropbox or Documents.

*Move (stretch, walk, jog in place, whatever).

*Write a letter to someone you’ve been meaning to write to forever (we all have that person).

*Take a walk around your block or to the end of your driveway.

*Or something else

Decide what one thing you’re going to do that feels simple. Something that doesn’t need creative inspiration. Don’t take too long with this. Just decide.

And start.

Then, do one more simple thing and another and another….until you’re back on track.   When thoughts of overwhelm sneak back into your mind, remember: do just one thing.

Drown out the other thoughts. Focus on what you’re doing right at that moment.

This takes practice. But it works.

Just one thing. It’s become my mantra.

I challenge invite you to do just one thing. What one thing will you do? Leave a comment below.