When my life starts to spin out of control, and it doesn't feel like I can stop the spinning, I like to take a few steps back, and look at the big picture. Keep moving back one step at a time, until things are clear again.
Now, what are the really important things? What matters? If you had to write a personal mission statement, what is really going to help you realize those goals. Once I have a perspective, I can make a list of things of things to do and sort. Tasks will fall into a couple of categories: HAVE TO, WANT TO, NOT NECESSARY.
Next, make a first pass through the list and eliminate the not necessaries. Be brutal. Give special consideration to those items that do not support one of your main goals. What is the reason it is on the list?Something has to give. Make a second pass, and decide if each item is a HAVE TO or a WANT TO. Either is valid, but be honest about which bucket it falls in.
For the have to items, go down the list and assign due dates. Look at your schedule, and factor in the have to items based on dates. Now, go back and fill in the want to items where you have opportunity in your schedule.
This simple method will keep you thinking about those things that are highest priority without spending time on things that really aren't important.
