Jul 15, 2025

SAVE

Present Protocol

Taming the Overwhelm

In the last weeks I felt this overwhelm: everything seemed important and urgent!

I feel grateful to live in these times with many possibilities — but it’s also more challenging than ever to handle it all for one human.

I turned to old research and found some strategies that helped me in the last weeks. Hope it can be useful for you, too! It's called:


The Daily 3

Choose (and write down) the three outcomes that will make today a win even if nothing else happens.

The rule forces trade-offs up front instead of later when your willpower is fried. keep the list visible — sticky note, menu bar widget, whatever.

If emotion (fear, boredom) is the blocker, label it — “this feels overwhelming because…” — then take the smallest concrete step.

Chunk by attention, not time

60-minute deep-work blocks for cognitively heavy tasks.
25-minute sprints for medium tasks.
5-minute micro-bursts to get started next action items when you feel stuck.

Create a “not this week” list

Every commitment you postpone on purpose lightens mental load. move the item to this list, set a revisit date, and let it leave your head. it’s a kindness to future-you.

System hygiene

  • weekly review to clear “open loops” and refill the daily-3 pipeline.

  • single capture inbox (digital or analog) so tasks live in one place.

  • archive or delete aggressively, search beats elaborate folders

Energy & body checks

Sleep, food, movement—yes, everyone says this, but cognitive bandwidth is physiological currency. protect it like your laptop battery: dim background apps, close tabs (literal and mental), recharge before 0%!

Mood

Mood

Mood