Small next steps when you feel overwhelmed

Why does overwhelm make it hard to start?

Unfinished tasks don't stay quietly on the list. They keep tapping you on the shoulder. In a series of studies, E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister found that unfinished goals caused intrusive thoughts and made people worse at unrelated tasks.

Switching back and forth adds to the load. Sophie Leroy's research on attention residue found that when people move on from unfinished work, part of their attention stays behind, and their performance on the next task suffers. When everything is half-open, it's no wonder nothing feels possible.

How small should the next step be?

Smaller than you think. A good next step usually has three qualities:

• It takes two to ten minutes. Short enough that starting doesn't need a pep talk.
• It starts with a physical verb. Open, write, call, find, send, put.
• You'll know when it's done. "Write the first heading," not "work on the report."

Examples of small next steps

Why small steps work

Progress feels good, even in small doses. In their study of daily diaries kept by 238 knowledge workers at seven companies, summarized in Harvard Business Review, Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer found that making progress in meaningful work was the strongest lift to people's emotions and motivation during the workday. Small wins turned out to be nearly as powerful as big breakthroughs.

So the small step isn't a consolation prize. It is often how momentum begins.

What about everything I'm not doing yet?

Give it a time and a place. The same plan-making research found that making a specific plan for an unfinished goal, such as when and how you would do it, removed much of its mental interference, even before the task was done.

A short "ready-to-resume" note works well at the end of a work session: what you were doing, where you stopped, and the first thing to do when you return. Leroy and Theresa Glomb found a plan like this helped people switch their attention more fully to the next task.

What if the next step is rest?

Sometimes it is. If you're running on empty, the smallest clear next step might be a glass of water, a walk around the block, or asking someone for help. Those choices protect the outcome that matters most: being able to keep going. If overwhelm stays with you for weeks or gets in the way of daily life, it's worth talking with a doctor or a mental health professional.

Try it now

Pick one thing on your mind and shrink it until it fits in five minutes. Or let our free guided pause help you find it. For the full approach, read what to do when everything is a priority.