We've all been there – To Do lists that are becoming epic in their content; Outlook keeps "pinging" at us to remind us about outstanding tasks – and we just change the due date so it leaves us alone(!); meetings, phone calls, conference calls – life can sometimes consume us and leave us feeling overwhelmed and overloaded.

Feeling like that is only going to mean that jobs and tasks take longer, which only serve to overwhelm us yet further. But good news! You can do something to regain control. If you take 20 minutes to follow these steps, you will feel better, lighter, focused and re-energised. And if you think you couldn't possibly find 20 minutes, because you're just too busy – ask yourself this question. If your hero (sports star, film star, rock star, etc.) walked into your office right now, you'd find 20 minutes to speak to them, wouldn't you? Course you would! Okay – let's go 

Step 1. Write down a long list of everything you have to do. Even if you've already got one, two or more different lists on the go, compile them onto ONE list of items that are really pressing.



Step 2. Write down the deadline for each item and the time you believe it will take you to complete it. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE TIME HERE. Whatever you think it will take – add 10%, in order to cover interruptions, etc. If it takes you less time in the end – great. You've got some time back. But this list needs to be as realistic as we can make it at this stage.



Step 3. You're now going to go through each item on the list and apply the 3D's to each one – Deadline; Delegate; Dump.



DEADLINE - have a look through and see which items you could extend the deadline to. For example, you may have promised your boss that you'd get her some information by the end of the week. Is it honestly going to make a massive difference if she gets it by Wednesday of next week? The truth is – you don't know until you ask. So have a look at any tasks which you feel you could feasibly change the deadline to. Ask the people involved – and give them as much notice as possible. Telling them at the eleventh hour is unlikely to appeal to their best side. The more notice they have, the more likely they are to help you out.



DELEGATE – have a look through the remaining tasks. Which can you delegate out? Even some simple, small things that you can hand out will make you feel better that you don't have to think about them any more. Be creative - you may not actually have a team to delegate to. But you may have a boss, colleagues, family members, your partner, your children….could any of them help out with even one thing? Choose the things that don't need much explaining, but that you can quickly hand over. Making a phone call; finding out some information; collating other information into one place – anything you can delegate, do it.



DUMP – honestly, are there any things on your list for which the optimum time has simply run out? These might be things you planned to do a while ago and have been on your to do list for ages. Because of that – are they really still relevant? Will the world collapse if you don't do them? Identify at least one thing on your list which you can simply dump.



I guarantee this will not take any longer than 20 minutes, no matter how many things are on your list. Going through this process will help you to quickly see what you can to do to regain control of what you have to do. The truth of the matter is – more often than not, we all have more things to do than we have time for. However, it's not about what you've got to do, it's about how you feel about it. So if you want to feel better about what it is you have to do, give your list the 3D's treatment!