What To Do When You Wake Up Feeling Overwhelmed

Do you ever wake up and just feel completely overwhelmed? Like there’s just too much to do that you feel defeated and discouraged before your feet even hit the floor?

Here are 3 strategies I use that help me on those days when I feel overwhelmed.

1. Start By Making a List of Your Top Priorities

Instead of just thinking in terms of a to do list, I want you to make out a list of priorities for your life. 

Ask yourself, “What am I about? What’s going to matter in 25 years from now? What matters most right now? What do I want to wrap my time and energy around in this season of life?” These questions will help you determine your priorities are for your life right now.

In my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I talk about the importance of making what I call a “Best Stuff List”. These are the best things in your life that you want to pour the majority of your time and effort into. 

When you wake up completely stressed and feel like, “I have so much I should do” or “I have so many things I want to do”, start first with your Best Stuff List and compare it with your daily to do list or what you think should be on your daily to do list. 

Are their things on your daily to do list (or that you think should be on your daily to do list) that aren’t in line with your Best Stuff list? If so, let them go. Delete, skip, or delegate them. You can only do what you can do… so focus on the most important things.

The same goes when people ask you to help out or invite you to attend something or be involved in something. If their requests do not line up with the things that you consider to be a priority, then you can guiltlessly saying, “no”.

2. Choose The Next Right Thing to Focus On

You can easily feel like there are so many things you should be doing.

I need to get a handle on that…

I need to do these things…

I must do that thing…

I have to get this done or else everyone will be disappointed in me…

Instead of being consumed with all of these thoughts, ask yourself this one question, “What’s the one thing that is going to make the biggest difference in my life right now?”

Based upon your answer to this question, then ask yourself, “What is the next best thing for me to do right now?”

Maybe that’s to read to your child, take a shower, call a friend, clean your kitchen, make dinner, write a blog post, run an errand, working on that project, or hang out with your husband.

Don’t try to conquer the whole world (or 7 different tasks!) in the next five minutes, just pick one thing that you are going to focus on next and then give it all you got.

Do that next thing, finish it, and then ask yourself again, “What is the next best thing for me to do right now?” And then do that.

Every night before I go to bed, I map out the following day. This helps me to relax and get a good night’s sleep.

There are some parts to my day that are routine and I keep the same from day to day. When I get up, I get up, make coffee, and go straight to my office or the living room and open my Bible to study God’s Word. Then I take a few minutes to write in my blessing journal.

When I’m done with the first two things on my list, I go to the next thing. I don’t have to ask, “what should I do next?”, because it is already mapped out. This keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

By establishing habits, you won’t get out of bed every morning and thinking about of all the things you could do. Instead, you will know exactly what you need to get up and do.

You can also apply this idea to priorities in your life. Instead of trying to improve in 15 different areas and feeling overwhelmed, choose to focus on the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life.

For example, maybe when you survey all of the priorities and goals you want to set, you realize that the biggest thing you really need to focus on right now is making it a priority to keep up on the laundry every day. You realize that it’s just been piling up all over the place and you really need to put in the time and energy it takes to wash, dry, fold, and put away the clothes everyday.

Make that your one and only main priority to focus on for the next 4-6 weeks. Stay on top of that one priority and get it down before moving on.

Many times, focusing on one priority only will have a trickle down effect in other areas of your life. For instance, as I shared about on Periscope this morning, making the priority of consistently getting up at 5 AM and following through with a Morning Routine every day this week has impacted so many other areas of my life.

Just by making early rising a priority and then following through with it, our house has stayed more organized, I’ve felt calmer, I’ve had more time to cook from scratch, I’ve had more time to devote to one-on-one time with Jesse and the kids, I’m getting more done, I have more breathing room in my life, and I’ve had more time to invest in other people, too.

3. Keep a Running List of Other Ideas

What about all those other things you feel like you have to make a priority? Keep a running list of those other ideas. It is natural to become motivated to do more when you feel accomplished in one area of your life.

When you are thinking: “I need to organize that. I should change that thing in my life. I need to teach my kids this important thing…” Write these ideas down, but don’t try to implement them yet. 

Choose one idea or focus area to hone in on at one time. Then, when you feel like that idea or priority has become more of a habit, go to your running list and choose the next most important priority to focus on.

If you start working on these priorities one at a time and add a new one every month or two, just think of how much you will have accomplished by the end of the year! It all starts by taking it one step at a time, and pretty soon you are looking back to miles walked.

When you have a when you know your priorities and you have a plan, it will go a long way to beat those overwhelmed feeling you can have in the mornings.

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? Be sure to grab a copy of my brand-new online course, Make Over Your Mornings.

This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you revolutionize your productivity, streamline your routines, invest your time in things that truly matter, and find more joy and peace in the process.

If you’ve ever wished that you could figure out how to get more done, have more organization in your life, and find time to spend on things you love, the Make Over Your Mornings Course is for you. Find out more about it here.