One thing that I have learned to do is compartmentalize my thoughts, reactions and tasks. It takes practice and time to get to where things are at a noticeable difference. Do you feel like your world is spinning out of control? As though life doesn’t have enough time in the day to accomplish what you want to get done. Do you get angry or upset about it? Is your day consumed with thinking about everything you want to do getting done in the few hours you have?

These are questions many of us struggle with daily. The expectations and needs of everyone or every task, and the limitation of time. These expectations can be maddening and frustrating. One thing that I have found helpful is to compartmentalize different tasks into separate mental boxes or file drawers. Place these in their own box or category box and put lids on them. Don’t seal the boxes, just put the lids on them for a period.

This is my way of compartmentalizing. They are then prioritized – immediate boxes to the front, the other sequentially tucked away toward the back, each designated on the importance of time sensitivity. Now that you have your boxes set up and organize, open the lid of the first box. Take one of the tasks or issues out of the box and concentrate on it. Once you have addressed the issue or task, it goes away for the time being – into a completion box. That doesn’t mean that it is gone forever, but you don’t need to think about it again for the time being. Continue choosing and completing tasks until the box is empty and then you move onto the next box. Issues or tasks that are multifaceted can be addressed accordingly. Do the most important part first and then recategorize the remaining aspects of the task into another box to be addressed later.