How to Break Down a Huge Task into Manageable Steps
Are you facing an overwhelming task, and you don’t know where to start?
Maybe your schedule is too packed, and you wake up with stress and a sense of dread every single day.
Today, I want to give you five easy steps to break down a huge task into manageable steps.
These steps work for an over-packed schedule, a long list of to-dos or homework, or anything that is causing too much stress.
They will help turn your feeling of being overwhelmed into calmness and confidence.
I have used these exact steps with my son with his homework schedule, and watched him go from panic to peace in just minutes.
I use them myself with:
- Client work
- Housekeeping – when the clutter gets out of hand
- When putting holiday decorations away
- When approaching a ministry task that seems way beyond what I feel I am capable of doing
These steps can be used in every area of our lives, whenever we’re feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, and under stress.
How to Break Down a Huge Task into Manageable Steps
Before we get started, you will need a list of what needs to be done. Be sure to leave room on the left-hand side of your paper because you will need that for step one.
How to do this with a multi-step task: Take your task and write down the various things that need to be done to complete this task.
How to do this for a busy schedule: Write down all of the things you need to accomplish in your day. Be very specific to write down anything that should not be forgotten – even if it seems logical to you, because it is very easy to forget everyday things, like making lunch or taking your vitamins when you are busy.
Now we are ready to get started!
1. Organize Your List According to Importance
We are going to use that space on the left side of your list to organize it by importance.
You will use three letters: A, B, and C.
A – stands for urgent. These are tasks that need to be done today, perhaps even by a certain time today.
B – stands for important, but can be done tomorrow. It would be good if they were done today, but the earth will not shift on its axis if it is done tomorrow.
C – stands for less important. These tasks do need to be done, but they can be done sometime this week.
Go through your list and label each task according to importance.
2. Start With the Quickest A-task First.
Which of your A-tasks can be done in the quickest amount of time? That is the task you are going to start with.
This is a bit of psychology: We are going to start off with a sense of accomplishment as quickly as possible.
When you can cross something off your list quickly, it gives you motivation to keep going, and we’re going to grab on to that motivation fast by getting the easiest and quickest thing done right away.
Our tendency is to go for the hardest and longest job, thinking that if we can get that done, it will take the pressure off.
That is counter-productive, because we are starting off feeling overwhelmed, and in that state of mind, we go into the most overwhelming task, and quickly lose motivation.
You want to build motivation, not lose it!
As you work through your list, motivation will build and build so that when you get to your hardest task, you’ll have the motivation to soar through it.
Once you are done with your easiest, quickest task, move on to step three and then repeat steps two and three until you are done with your A-tasks. If you have time, move on to your B-tasks.
3. Take Frequent Breaks
I have learned the value of taking frequent breaks.
For a long time, I would try to plow through all of my work, thinking that I would be able to relax when I was done with everything.
The problem was that the longer I worked, the more unproductive I became.
My brain would slow down, my thinking became more cloudy, and my metabolism slowed down more and more – because my job is sedentary.
Plowing through was counterproductive.
So, I began taking short breaks every 60-90 minutes, and during those breaks, I would walk and clear my head.
These breaks don’t have to be long, only 5-7 minutes, sometimes longer if you’re grabbing something to eat.
But those short breaks have helped me to work more quickly with greater efficiency, and now I’m getting more done in a quicker span of time.
4. Stop Thinking Negatively
When we feel overwhelmed about a task or our busy schedule, we tend to start thinking negatively about it.
This begins to create a cycle, because the negative thinking increases our feeling of being overwhelmed, and that creates more negativity, and round and round it goes, as the feeling of being overwhelmed and negativity grow and grow.
The only way to overcome this is to stop it.
When you think to yourself, “I’ll never get this done!” Stop and replace that thought with, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
When you think to yourself, “This is simply too much!” Stop and replace that thought with, “With God, all things are possible.” Matthew 9:26
I don’t know what your default thinking pattern is when you feel stressed, but I challenge you to capture those negative thoughts and replace them with Scripture.
This is a powerful tool to use in all areas of our lives.
5. Reward Yourself When You Are Done
It is much easier to keep going when you see the prize at the finish line.
It’s no fun to run a race or play a sport when you don’t have a clear goal or a reward for your accomplishment.
Motivation requires a reward.
You don’t need to make that reward extravagant. It can be something as simple as ordering takeout instead of cooking or watching a movie or TV show you’ve wanted to catch up on.
Having that reward at the end of a huge task or a long day not only keeps you motivated, but it will also help to keep you from getting distracted.
Following these five steps has been a game-changer for my family and me.
If you use it today, stop by and let me know how it goes, and be sure to visit these other organizational posts plus here, and here!
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