How to Manage Competing Priorities and Beat Overwhelm

This past month has been super eventful for me and Andrew. I ran the Boston Marathon, we closed on our house and moved in, I hosted my sister’s bachelorette party, and we got a rescue puppy (necessary cute picture below)! Needless to say, it’s been exhausting balancing all of these competing priorities. This adulting blog has taken a backseat to, well, adulting. However, this past month has been an amazing learning experience. I’m returning to the blog with so much new insight I didn’t have before. That’s the thing with adulting, the best lesson is experience.

In this post I’ll talk about how to manage many competing priorities, including in your budget. As adults, we have a lot of things on our plates. It’s easy to get swept away by stress and not handle any of them well. This can happen in our work lives and our personal lives. Luckily there are a variety of strategies for managing priorities that I have found effective in my own life and that experts in productivity and mental health recommend.

Create a To-Do List for Your Competing Priorities

Creating a to-do list sounds so simple. However, many people avoid this step, often thinking that they can keep track of everything mentally. By not writing a to-do list, you let your to-dos swirl around in your head. This is a problem because research shows that the average person has 15 ongoing goals! Remembering everything becomes its own to-do. This can make you feel like you have more you need to accomplish than is actually the case.

However, once we write our to-do list, we can actually focus on the work and life tasks we need to pursue to accomplish those goals. Plus, researchers find that the process of crossing items off our to-do list helps us feel empowered. As a result, we end up accomplishing more in the long-run.

Consequently, take time to write your to-do list in your phone, a planner, or wherever works best for you. You might be surprised at how short the list really is. I love writing my to-do list in the Notes app on my phone. Because I admittedly always have my phone on me, I can add to my to-do list whenever something pops in my head. This helps me avoid anxiety around my to-dos.

Embrace Microproductivity In Your To-Do List

Many of our goals are big and lofty. After all, those are the goals that are the most exciting. However, those are also the goals that are the most intimidating to start. As a result, many people end up giving up their big goals. The answer to that problem is microproductivity. What is microproductivity? Microproductivity means breaking up a big goal into small, manageable steps.

You might have “start a blog” on your to-do list. Starting a blog can feel very intimidating and ambiguous. I know that first-hand. Microproductivity means that you break that step into manageable, concrete tasks. For example, you might have goals that include spending one hour researching first steps, taking notes on the layouts and content of 3 blogs you like, identifying a niche topic you’re interested in and knowledgeable about, identifying a web hosting platform you’d like to use, and brainstorming topic ideas for your first posts.

Yes, your to-do list just became longer. However, you now have a better sense of your next steps. Plus, it’s easier to make time for one hour of research than an indeterminate amount of time to start a blog. As a result, microproductivity helps you develop an action plan for your goals and provides realistic benchmarks to assess (and reward) your progress.

Rank Competing Priorities

A long to-do list can quickly lead to non-action if you don’t know where to start. Towards that end, rank your to-do list in order of what’s most important. Importance might align with how soon you need to complete a task, how many people are affected by a task, how big the project is and so how many steps you need to make time for, or even what you enjoy least and so would benefit the most from having off your to-do list.

I have a planner that provides space for me to rank my top 3 priorities for the week and my top 3 priorities for a given day. You can do this yourself or buy a planner that provides a similar structure. This system is super helpful for keeping you on track. I’m guessing I’m not the only person who has put off a more important goal because I would rather clean the house.

Chunk Your Time

I’m sorry for using the word “chunk.” I didn’t come up with the terminology for this strategy. The idea behind *shudders* chunking your to-do list, is to assign chunks of time to particular tasks. It’s also more palatably called time blocking.

Once you have a to-do list, concrete steps, and rankings, block time in your schedule to work on these tasks. Your to-do list will quickly feel less overwhelming if you see yourself making progress. And if you’re talking about work tasks, you might even block time for tasks in a shared work calendar so that your colleagues don’t schedule meetings during your prime productivity time.

Some people find that it works best to start their day with the biggest and most important tasks. Doing so can mean that you get the most overwhelming things done first. Others find that checking off smaller, more manageable tasks first gives them the confidence boost to continue down their to-do list. Use the strategy that works best for you and your time.

As you are blocking time, consider what times of day you are most productive. Your chronotype plays a huge role in this. Your chronotype aligns with your biological clock. It affects when you are most productive, when you prefer to sleep and wake up, and even when you’re most creative. You can see my post (with a free quiz!) on determining your chronotype. Knowing that can help you organize your schedule effectively.

Make Time for Yourself to Avoid Overwhelm

When we block our time, we tend to focus on scheduling tasks that make us feel productive. That’s totally understandable. After all, you might think it’s hardest to find time to do the things you don’t want to do. However, sometimes the hardest thing is actually scheduling time for yourself. Doing so can feel selfish and like a luxury we can’t afford when we’re balancing many competing priorities.

Nevertheless, I’ve found that I’m most productive when I stick to a strict work schedule that allows me to focus during work hours while giving me plenty of time to decompress outside of work hours. For caregivers, it’s especially important to block time for yourself, even if it’s a small amount of time each day.

Research bears this out. Indeed, people who prioritize self-care are more productive and have better cognitive ability. This makes sense. How many of us have made mistakes when we have a million things on our mind and/or are feeling bad about ourselves? When we practice self-care, we can learn to be in the present, put things in perspective, and ease some of that stress that keeps us from actually accomplishing things.

Making time for yourself is especially difficult if you have kids, pets, and others who depend on you. Nevertheless, it’s absolutely vital to set aside time for yourself. Whether it’s a walk, bubble bath and podcast, or episode of your favorite guilty-pleasure TV show, your productivity will benefit from giving yourself at least a little time to unwind. Not to mention you deserve it.

How to Manage Competing Priorities In Your Budget

These strategies work when you’re balancing competing budget priorities as well. I encountered this when we moved into our new home. We went from living in a 500 square foot apartment to a 1500 square foot house. From new locks for the doors to a couch for our living room, it felt like there were a million things we needed to buy.

To keep track of everything, we created a spreadsheet that had the things we wanted to buy, the price of the item, the URL for the place we wanted to buy it from, and its priority for us. We also allocated a monthly amount to home purchases. As we had money for things, we worked down the list in order of priority. It kept us from constantly having to ask questions about what to buy next and whether we had enough money for it. 

Consequently, we wrote out our “to-buy” list. We got specific about our purchases instead of writing “buy furniture.” Plus, we blocked out money for our purchases and bought things in order of priority.

I even ear-marked my side hustle income from things like taking surveys, participating in focus groups, and earning money playing games through Swagbucks for furniture purchases. If you want information on my favorite side hustles, you can check out my post on this topic. I’ll also have an upcoming post on the most fun ways I’ve made extra money!

Be Honest about Your Competing Priorities

When we have a million things to do or buy, it’s easy to underestimate or ignore the things we need to accomplish. This can end up being demoralizing if we don’t plan enough time or money to cover the things we need and find that things take longer than we expected.

Consequently, be honest about how long you think things will take or how much they cost. My PhD advisor recommended budgeting 3 times more time than I thought something would take. I’ve found that maxim to work super well in a wide variety of situations, from home to work projects.

Likewise, financial expert Ramit Sethi recommends inflating your budgeted necessary expenses by 15% to help account for all those unforeseen things you didn’t anticipate. And when budgeting for vacations, he frequently recommends doubling the amount of money you budget because few people account for things like tips, Ubers, taxes, and the millions of other little things that add up.

By being honest, you can realistically plan for and chip away at your competing priorities.

Let Go of the Small Stuff

Part of being honest about your competing priorities also means recognizing when you can let go of some things from your to-do list. Personally, I hate having a messy house. I clean very regularly. However, moving into a new house, getting a puppy, and having a million things to do as a result means that I sometimes have to let go of cleaning the house when things are pretty good so I can use that time more effectively.

Delegate Competing Priorities Where Possible

Many people struggle with delegation, including  myself. However, delegation is one of the most powerful things you can do to make real progress on your to-do list. Plus, if you are managing competing priorities in a work environment, delegation is a massively important management skill. I have had a number of ineffective managers whose major weaknesses included an inability to delegate.

Consequently, get good at learning what you can delegate and to whom. Most people love helping others out. You might delegate projects to people who excel in a particular area, people who would learn a lot and benefit from accomplishing a particular type of task, or people who you trust to take the time to do a task well, even if it’s not in their wheelhouse.

Final Thoughts on Managing Competing Priorities

Whether it’s at work, in your budget, or at home, adulting comes with so many competing priorities on our time and money. Luckily, there are a large number of things you can do to manage those priorities and make real progress from ranking priorities to chunking time to delegating and more. Following these steps can benefit your mental health, wallet, and personal and professional life.

I hope you found some tips in here that can help you manage all of your priorities. Have other tips for managing all those adulting things you need to do? Let me know what they are in the comments!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider liking, subscribing, or sharing with others. It’s always a big help! Interested in related content? Check out my posts on setting boundaries, SMART goal setting, and prioritizing multiple savings goals.