Get real.

Life is a series of “gotta’s.” Gotta get up. Gotta go to work. Gotta see the doctor. And so on and so on. Sometimes, your mental to-do list gets so overloaded, it’s nothing but a tangled mess. But right now, today, surrender to the fact that you can’t do it all. There just isn’t enough time in the day. Even that friend of yours—the one who makes it look so easy—can’t do as much as you think. He’ll join us in the real world eventually, after his next crash and burn.

You can accomplish plenty without feeling totally overwhelmed by prioritizing. Focus your energy on what’s most important—must-do’s or things that offer the greatest long-term benefit. Finishing these “big” items will make you feel so accomplished, you won’t care so much about the little things left undone. And who knows? Knocking important items off your list may give you such a boost of energy that you end up finishing most of those little things, too.