Being months behind on work is a daunting thing. No matter how you get there, the snowball effect seems to not only get larger from perspective of how much there is to get done, but how much harder the work is to complete.

In being behind, I found myself visualizing what it would be like to be done, and knew how I wanted it to feel. But with every day that passed, it seemed harder and harder to actually get the work done, to the point that overwhelm was really taking over.

I don’t believe the approach I took was the best to getting back on track, but it did the job. I found myself taking every small bit of time I could to sit and get caught up, even if it was just one note or one part of one note. I worked my usual hours, then any time in between was spent catching up. I got less sleep than I needed, and the work wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. But it needed to be done, and I had to reach a place where I could say it was good enough.

As an old colleague used to remind me, sometimes it doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

As I started to get closer, and as I have since been able to stay consistent with the overall workload, an interesting thing has happened. Instead of worrying about how perfect I want everything to be, I find myself just making sure to move forward. Less overthinking, more doing. And my work, lo and behold, is getting better for it.