I was feeling slightly overwhelmed by the number of items on my To Do List yesterday morning. I’d organized my list and was fairly confident I’d captured everything I needed to do so nothing had slipped through the cracks. Still, I was spinning out and needed a plan.

So I stopped what I was doing. I pulled out a piece of paper and, on each line, wrote a half-hour block of time through the end of the day. On each line, I wrote what needed to get done. If I thought it would take just 30 minutes, it went on one line. If it would take more, I drew an arrow down through the period I would allot to that task.

That schedule wasn’t perfect, but by the end of the day, I’d accomplished most everything I’d set out to. The 15 minutes I spent getting everything out of my head and creating a plan to get it all done cleared my mind, steadied my nerves and allowed me to move forward. I felt like I’d prioritized the right tasks, which helped me end the day feeling I’d accomplished the right tasks.

It’s a small thing, but it made a world of difference.