I try to think ahead and set myself up for success. Whenever I’m going to leave the house, whether for a few minutes or a few days, I’ll think about where I’m going and what I’m going to want/need while I’m there. If I’m going on a longer trip, I’ll stop and think through my daily routines and visualize what I use in them so I make sure to pack it. If I have an important conversation coming up, I’ll figure out in advance what I want to say and how to word it so that it comes across properly. Planning these things out normally takes me only a few minutes and saves me a lot of time, energy, and trouble later on.
Setting myself up for success often requires me to get my priorities in order so I can practice effective time management. If I have a lot of tasks to complete, I’ll start with the ones that are quickest and easiest to do so that I can knock them out early on. That way I’ll still have lots of time and energy for the longer, more difficult tasks. I also try to arrange things so that different tasks don’t conflict with each other. If I want to exercise and eat a big meal, for example, I’ll exercise first so that I won’t be slowed down or become sick from the food. Avoiding conflicts between tasks becomes especially important when I’m short on time and can’t afford to mess up my schedule.
Additionally, I prefer to get things done while I have plenty of time. For example, I’d rather wash my work shirts the night before my next shift instead of doing it shortly before I head in. That gives me ample room to maneuver in case an unexpected delay occurs. I still frequently struggle with this due to a lifelong habit of procrastination, but I’ve found numerous ways to get things done in a timely manner. One such way that I frequently use involves working on one task while I have another one going on in the background, such as finishing a blog post while washing a load of clothes. This is a great way to get quite a bit done in a short period of time.
All of these things have prevented a lot of anxiety and made my remaining anxiety much easier to manage. Having a plan in place gives me a framework to guide my actions while still allowing me to adjust to any changes that pop up, provided I avoid making my plan overly specific. Once I’ve developed a solid plan into a routine and lived by it for a few weeks, it becomes easy to follow and makes my life much smoother. I’ve spent much of my life setting myself up for failure, so I’m glad to have gotten pretty good over the past few years at setting myself up for success.