Stress Relief? First Start. Then Stop.

Lately much of the stress in my life is caused by the long list of things that have to be done. Most of these are lengthy projects -- and since my days don't often provide me with long periods of time to attack long projects, I have a habit of moving on to short tasks and leaving longer ones until later.

Then, at night, I wake up stressing that I have so many big projects to complete.

So, what have I learned about myself? To relieve the stress, I just have to START.

Once I get a project started (typically, this is writing something -- and often it's a presentation) my mind begins to grasp how big the project will really be, and stress about it turns into planning it. It seems I can spend 30 minutes on a task that will take me several hours, and then my mind can relax. {I think it keeps working on the project in the background. Sometimes my mind does things without me asking it to. Ever have that experience?}

Then comes the hard part. With so many big projects to complete, I can't afford to spend too long on each one. Though I might sometimes tend toward perfectionism, I can't afford the time. I need to STOP and move on.

{And that's where I am now. I would prefer this entry to be a bit more clever. I'd love to find a cool graphic to add. But, as it turns out, I have some other tasks to complete. So, here I go.}

Start. Stop. Repeat.