What to do when you are OVERWHELMED!

Right now, I'm in a season of frenzy.  Just one thing after another coming at me from all directions in the form of projects, appointments, problems to solve, messages to write, teaching to prepare, planning to...plan, questions to answer and EMAILS TO RESPOND TO!

For the past few days, what I've done is...cry.  Not really, but I've certainly whined a lot.  I'm a gifted griper.

But there is no solution in that.  The solution is to step back and formulate a plan.

Steven Covey, the famous author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People says everything we do (how we spend our time) goes in one of four 'quadrants':  Urgent and important; Urgent but not important; important but not urgent; and  not urgent or important.  Everyone knows not to do something if it is neither important nor urgent.  He says we get into trouble because we do things that are urgent, but are not important.

For example, when I'm in my office and the phone rings, I find myself looking at the caller id to see who it is.  That's crazy!  We have folks here who are the front door to our office.  They are gifted at helping get people to the right place, whether it's a call or a walk-in visit.  I look at the phone because it's urgent, but the call may or may not be important.

I also live in 'Urgent and Important' which is to say "Crisis Management"!  The way out of that is to spend as much time as I can in things that are important, but not yet urgent.  If I do that, I will find that crises are more manageable (though not eliminated) and I can breathe again.

When I live like I'm living today, it's my own fault.  And I'm the only one who can fix it.