[A collaboration post – all thoughts are my own.]

Do you feel that you have too much on your plate this month?

I’m taking two long-term translations and subtitling projects and have to write three posts per week for MOA. I haven’t had time to write for my blogging blog and I feel so guilty about that. I want to finish important tasks before the end of July because I’m planning to have three days and two nights’ staycation with my friend!

When I have too much on my plate, I will find it hard to focus and easily get confused about where to start. I find myself working even during weekends. Sometimes working on weekends is fine, but when it becomes a habit, that’s when I realized that I am overloaded with too much!

Have too much on your plate? Tackle them with this!

If you find yourself making silly mistakes and having sleepless nights, it can be a sign that you have too much on your plate and start losing focus frequently. I’m not an expert when it comes to giving advice because not every method works for someone. But let me share things I can do when I’m having too much on my plate.

Double your “No”

We tend to say yes without thinking about the consequences until we’re stuck in a group we don’t want to be in. As I grow older, the most important word I can use to take stuff off my plate is “no”. Saying no creates healthy boundaries for ourselves. Most importantly, it gives you the energy and time to pour yourself into your priorities.

Of course, when you say no doesn’t mean you will ignore opportunities coming your way. Otherwise, you will say “yes” to anyone and everyone at your expense. Say yes to your priorities. Say yes to your goals before you agree to someone else’s needs.

Leave your busy agenda

Busyness has become a badge of honor – as if having too much on your plate is a good thing. However, is busy actually working? I like being busy because it helps my mind stay away from negative thoughts. But, at the end of the day, it led me to exhaustion, distraction, scattered progress, and burnout.

To leave busy agenda, I need to start with my mind. If I believe I am always busy, it’s easy to procrastinate and self-sabotage. Instead, I switch my language by using words like focused, prioritized, or committed – and watch how these shift your emotional state.

Complete the day with a 1% progress

We have this belief that every day must be a big success. I remembered the day when I launched my website back in 2020. I made a detailed plan to launch a website and ended up having too much on my plate. In fact, progress is more important than anything else.

For example, instead of “launch website“, I choose to write a draft of the About Me page then I can pick a theme for my blog the next day. One percent today and tomorrow start to accumulate and accumulative growth turns exponential. To make this a consistent practice, you’re going to lower the bar to get started.

Lower your bar

When you’re having too my on your plate, you don’t know what to do first. I’ve found myself staring at a blank cursor at my favorite coffee shop and then realized that an hour went by and I got nothing done. I’ve experienced this many times. Why? Because getting started is always the hardest part, and it’s much harder when you have too much on your plate.

There is a fancy way for you to go from thinking about doing something to doing it. For example, I need to translate 1,500 words of book translations in a day. Instead of completing 1,500 words in one time sitting, I commit to doing 700 words first and finishing the rest words in the evening. Thus, I’ll take the pressure off myself and it’s much easy to keep going by lowering the bar.

We’ve all felt like we have too much on our plate at some point and things seem to be getting worse. As a translator and blogger, I deal with countless words every day and there are always more tasks to do. There are emails to check, social media to post, and comments to reply to. There are things competing for our attention.

The reality is that you need to take control of this now. Once you do, you’ll accumulate winning days more often. You’ll learn how to set boundaries, avoid procrastination, and know you are moving forward in your life and business.

Now is your turn! What do you do when having too much on your plate? Share your experiences with me below!