Oh my gosh, I could write so much in response to this. ❤️ First, I loved it, and I appreciate that you shared your actual lists. I went through a similar experience when I tried to organize a Word doc of various ideas/to-do items for my book marketing - it's a typed document that grew to 20 pages, and it felt utterly overwhelming. A friend told me about Trello. If you aren't familiar with it, it might be worth checking out - I've broken all my tasks into different categories and different priority levels, so I only regularly see a short list of my "do this week" tasks, but I have somewhere to put everything else and can move things into the top priority bucket when appropriate. It's been really helping for calming the overwhelm. It also resonated when you talked about not wanting to waste time. I definitely feel you there. Another thing I've been trying to do is focus only on what I want to do. Sometimes that means having more fun but sometimes it means working if I'm working on something that's genuinely important to me, even if it's not that much fun. But getting out of the "I should do this" mindset has been really helpful. And the last thing - I love letters too. I just starting reading a book about two people who became pen pals as kids in school and their years of exchanging letters, and how that changed both their lives. ❤️ The book is called I Will Always Write Back.
Awwww thank you so much for reading and commenting, Brieanna! I felt kind of vulnerable sharing my actual lists! Such a strange feeling, but I'm glad I did because I find it helpful when others share similar things. Oh I actually do know about Trello! I used to use it for my editing projects and freelance writing but I stopped for some reason. I might need to go back to it and give it a go. I'm trying out the free version of Notion as well to see if that helps with breaking down projects and tasks and coordinating all that with my calendar. I like the idea of working on what you want to work on ... that might be something I can do if I'm working on something but not feeling it. I can always switch it up with something else on my list and come back to it later. I am going to check out the letter writing book asap! Sounds amazing! <3 <3 <3
I agree - I like when people share real things, and I find that a lot of people are being more open and vulnerable on Substack, which is one of the reasons I'm enjoying it. I hope you enjoy the book if you give it a read!
I am a serial "put all the to dos down somewhere" when I'm anxious or feeling overwhelmed. It's helped me somewhat at that moment, but I am not too sure if it was the right approach cause the list does not seem to reduce! I've been notion for a while now after moving from Trello, initially I had big plans for it with personal dashboards and so on but now I've stripped it to the simplicity that I need. It'll keep changing but that's me I think? I also used my agile process here in notion, you can google for free templates in notion!
The list really is never-ending! At the moment I'm using Notion mainly for the calendar. Trying to figure out how I want to incorporate tasks and checklists, but not going too much further than that just yet. I did see that free templates are available for different things, which is great! I'm with you on the changing too. I tend to go with what I need at the time but then that changes because my work can be so different from one week to the next. I'm all over the place the next two weeks because the kids have school break, so my plan is very different and I have to be open to daily changes and tweaks.
Aww, so glad you found something that might work for you ❤️ And also I totally relate to the feeling of overwhelm. I’ve pulled back from social media a lot the past few years to try to reassess what it actually does for me. (Especially because the research shows that it doesn’t do anything for book sales.) My lists used to look really long but as I’ve evaluated what I liked to do and what energizes versus drains me, the list has grown smaller. As you experiment, I hope the same for you 😊
Thank you so much, Rachel! That's exactly it – I'll experiment and see what's working and what's not working and just tweak as I go. Social media is such a tricky one. I find that I'm using it more to network with other authors/creators, which is probably why I still like some platforms, but if the overwhelm doesn't ease, I'll have to step back a bit there too.
Loved, loved, loved this post. I agree with both of you, it's so good to see other people's strategies for working through the overwhelm. Melissa-Jane, seeing your actual lists was really inspiring. I love that there are like minded people here we can bounce ideas off of to increase our own creativity output. I love Trello as well, but have jumped ship to Notion lately, not sure why other than it was new to me and I could hyper focus on learning the systems instead of doing what I really should have been doing. 😂 In all seriousness, I don't know where I would be without my bullet journal. It's not pretty or fancy, it's a chicken scratch BuJo, but I find sometimes I pay more attention when I hand write. The structure of it allows for me to migrate tasks back and forth...I find rewriting and rewriting incomplete tasks really forces me to ask myself if the tasks are actually important. I've even gone as far as creating my own daily task list (I can send it to you if you want to see it) and having them printed out as 8.5x11 pads. I also love the app Structure that allows me to see a visual representation of my day (seeing clients, writing times, exercise, etc.) Can't wait to see what others will have to say too! Maybe between all of us we will come up with some ways that really help us all!
Ooh how interesting that you’ve jumped onto Notion from Trello! What are you finding most useful with Notion? I feel like I’m still very much finding my way with it. Hahah! I feel you on the hyperfocus with learning new things – I am also guilty of that, though haven’t had time to do so with Notion just yet. Perhaps avoiding it a little because I know I’ll want to spend lots of time on there figuring it all out. I’m the same with hand writing too. Still works very well for me, if only I had time to do all my lists by hand every day, but then I’d lose momentum to actually do the things on the list 🤣 I’d love to see your daily task list if you don’t mind sharing! You’re welcome to DM me if you’d rather not sure it publicly – totally up to you.
Here’s the link to my daily task list I use when I really need to be intentionally focused: https://mindsoak.me/intentional-journaling/. It’s a free download if you want to try it. I think everyone needs to create their own flow, but maybe it unlocks something for people. As far as Notion goes, I see it as a place where I can dump everything. Like a second brain. I have used it to write (not deep writing, but more like website content, etc) but mostly it’s a place I dump and then copy/paste somewhere else to really do the work. I also can’t believe I didn’t mention Workflowy! Which is basically an outliner for your life that’s allows for a visual, nested lists. I use that a lot! I love the simplicity of it.
Thank you, Jon! I'll have to check out Workflowy too, though I'm not sure about adding too many new things all at once. My brain might just meltdown hahaha!
Oh you are so very welcome! I'm glad it resonated with you. Let me know how you go with your brain dump of things. Although it was overwhelming, it is helping me to organise my days. The obstacle I have now is that it's school break here at the moment, so kids being home and wanting/needing to spend time with them means I need to shuffle around my schedule even more. As long as I can see what needs to be done, though, I know I'll get there in the end.
Yes, being able to track and see the things that have been done is fantastic! Last year an author shared an achievements document she'd created. It's amazing because you can add in all the writing-related things you've done each month even if they're not always writing and that shows just how productive you've been at those moments when it doesn't feel like it. And I'm sure it could be done for things other than writing or writing-related too. I'm glad to hear you've been able to tick things off and you're feeling a little more organised! :)
Oh my gosh, I could write so much in response to this. ❤️ First, I loved it, and I appreciate that you shared your actual lists. I went through a similar experience when I tried to organize a Word doc of various ideas/to-do items for my book marketing - it's a typed document that grew to 20 pages, and it felt utterly overwhelming. A friend told me about Trello. If you aren't familiar with it, it might be worth checking out - I've broken all my tasks into different categories and different priority levels, so I only regularly see a short list of my "do this week" tasks, but I have somewhere to put everything else and can move things into the top priority bucket when appropriate. It's been really helping for calming the overwhelm. It also resonated when you talked about not wanting to waste time. I definitely feel you there. Another thing I've been trying to do is focus only on what I want to do. Sometimes that means having more fun but sometimes it means working if I'm working on something that's genuinely important to me, even if it's not that much fun. But getting out of the "I should do this" mindset has been really helpful. And the last thing - I love letters too. I just starting reading a book about two people who became pen pals as kids in school and their years of exchanging letters, and how that changed both their lives. ❤️ The book is called I Will Always Write Back.
Awwww thank you so much for reading and commenting, Brieanna! I felt kind of vulnerable sharing my actual lists! Such a strange feeling, but I'm glad I did because I find it helpful when others share similar things. Oh I actually do know about Trello! I used to use it for my editing projects and freelance writing but I stopped for some reason. I might need to go back to it and give it a go. I'm trying out the free version of Notion as well to see if that helps with breaking down projects and tasks and coordinating all that with my calendar. I like the idea of working on what you want to work on ... that might be something I can do if I'm working on something but not feeling it. I can always switch it up with something else on my list and come back to it later. I am going to check out the letter writing book asap! Sounds amazing! <3 <3 <3
I agree - I like when people share real things, and I find that a lot of people are being more open and vulnerable on Substack, which is one of the reasons I'm enjoying it. I hope you enjoy the book if you give it a read!
Yes, it’s such a nice place to be here on Substack 🥰
I am a serial "put all the to dos down somewhere" when I'm anxious or feeling overwhelmed. It's helped me somewhat at that moment, but I am not too sure if it was the right approach cause the list does not seem to reduce! I've been notion for a while now after moving from Trello, initially I had big plans for it with personal dashboards and so on but now I've stripped it to the simplicity that I need. It'll keep changing but that's me I think? I also used my agile process here in notion, you can google for free templates in notion!
The list really is never-ending! At the moment I'm using Notion mainly for the calendar. Trying to figure out how I want to incorporate tasks and checklists, but not going too much further than that just yet. I did see that free templates are available for different things, which is great! I'm with you on the changing too. I tend to go with what I need at the time but then that changes because my work can be so different from one week to the next. I'm all over the place the next two weeks because the kids have school break, so my plan is very different and I have to be open to daily changes and tweaks.
All the best! The kids and their rigid schedules, always a challenge.
Thank you! Definitely a challenge, but I'll get through it lol.
Aww, so glad you found something that might work for you ❤️ And also I totally relate to the feeling of overwhelm. I’ve pulled back from social media a lot the past few years to try to reassess what it actually does for me. (Especially because the research shows that it doesn’t do anything for book sales.) My lists used to look really long but as I’ve evaluated what I liked to do and what energizes versus drains me, the list has grown smaller. As you experiment, I hope the same for you 😊
Thank you so much, Rachel! That's exactly it – I'll experiment and see what's working and what's not working and just tweak as I go. Social media is such a tricky one. I find that I'm using it more to network with other authors/creators, which is probably why I still like some platforms, but if the overwhelm doesn't ease, I'll have to step back a bit there too.
Yes! I’ve learned I like using social media as a tool of connection and not so much sales and promotion. It’s way more fun 😂
Oh so much more fun! I am the WORST at trying to promote myself and my work anyway hahahaha!
Loved, loved, loved this post. I agree with both of you, it's so good to see other people's strategies for working through the overwhelm. Melissa-Jane, seeing your actual lists was really inspiring. I love that there are like minded people here we can bounce ideas off of to increase our own creativity output. I love Trello as well, but have jumped ship to Notion lately, not sure why other than it was new to me and I could hyper focus on learning the systems instead of doing what I really should have been doing. 😂 In all seriousness, I don't know where I would be without my bullet journal. It's not pretty or fancy, it's a chicken scratch BuJo, but I find sometimes I pay more attention when I hand write. The structure of it allows for me to migrate tasks back and forth...I find rewriting and rewriting incomplete tasks really forces me to ask myself if the tasks are actually important. I've even gone as far as creating my own daily task list (I can send it to you if you want to see it) and having them printed out as 8.5x11 pads. I also love the app Structure that allows me to see a visual representation of my day (seeing clients, writing times, exercise, etc.) Can't wait to see what others will have to say too! Maybe between all of us we will come up with some ways that really help us all!
Ooh how interesting that you’ve jumped onto Notion from Trello! What are you finding most useful with Notion? I feel like I’m still very much finding my way with it. Hahah! I feel you on the hyperfocus with learning new things – I am also guilty of that, though haven’t had time to do so with Notion just yet. Perhaps avoiding it a little because I know I’ll want to spend lots of time on there figuring it all out. I’m the same with hand writing too. Still works very well for me, if only I had time to do all my lists by hand every day, but then I’d lose momentum to actually do the things on the list 🤣 I’d love to see your daily task list if you don’t mind sharing! You’re welcome to DM me if you’d rather not sure it publicly – totally up to you.
Here’s the link to my daily task list I use when I really need to be intentionally focused: https://mindsoak.me/intentional-journaling/. It’s a free download if you want to try it. I think everyone needs to create their own flow, but maybe it unlocks something for people. As far as Notion goes, I see it as a place where I can dump everything. Like a second brain. I have used it to write (not deep writing, but more like website content, etc) but mostly it’s a place I dump and then copy/paste somewhere else to really do the work. I also can’t believe I didn’t mention Workflowy! Which is basically an outliner for your life that’s allows for a visual, nested lists. I use that a lot! I love the simplicity of it.
Thank you, Jon! I'll have to check out Workflowy too, though I'm not sure about adding too many new things all at once. My brain might just meltdown hahaha!
Oh you are so very welcome! I'm glad it resonated with you. Let me know how you go with your brain dump of things. Although it was overwhelming, it is helping me to organise my days. The obstacle I have now is that it's school break here at the moment, so kids being home and wanting/needing to spend time with them means I need to shuffle around my schedule even more. As long as I can see what needs to be done, though, I know I'll get there in the end.
Yes, being able to track and see the things that have been done is fantastic! Last year an author shared an achievements document she'd created. It's amazing because you can add in all the writing-related things you've done each month even if they're not always writing and that shows just how productive you've been at those moments when it doesn't feel like it. And I'm sure it could be done for things other than writing or writing-related too. I'm glad to hear you've been able to tick things off and you're feeling a little more organised! :)
Yes! It's very cool! Fun to fill in each month.