Hello,
I have done a load of things today already: walked the dog; fed the pets and family ( in that order ); been to the post office (twice); had a session with a client; visited a blood bank; done the housework; given first aid to a woman in shock and worked on my website. It is 9.10am.
I am working on several projects at the moment and they are all in different stages of development. Oh, and of course it is Christmas, (my favourite time of the year), so I have gifts to buy and wrap, menus to plan, cakes to decorate, cards to write and any number of other things we all do at this time. So, although I love my work and my life, and I am pretty organised, there are times when I feel a little overwhelmed with all the things going on.
If you are feeling overwhelmed with a long to do list, don’t panic. I was once given a great piece of advice by a colleague when I had started a new job and was at a loss as to know where to start with all the tasks that needed my attention. She asked me how I would eat an elephant. Being vegetarian at the time, I was a little puzzled but out of respect for her wisdom and experience, I finally blurted out, “Barbecued?” Her facial expression alerted me to the stupidity of my answer!
What she was trying to tell me was to choose one task I could do completely now, and just do it, and by repeating this process, I would uncover a natural order of tasks to do and see how they related to one another. I could then work through these logically and calmly. So, in elephant eating terms, start perhaps with a toe, and then another; consuming these will give you access to the foot, and so on.
Please do not take this message as ‘carte blanche’ to eat vulnerable or endangered species, but you get my point? This is a busy time of year for most of us, but let’s face it, many of us have busy years all round. So, take a deep breath, sit down and relax. Prioritise, and eat your elephant a bit at a time. You are an amazing person, and you’ve got this.
I love you, humanity,
Love Eve
