One of the things I learned in Japan was not to put too much on my plate. The nature of the training we did required us to do a lot of tasks, all under a deadline. There were times when I felt there was too much going on that I felt paralyzed by indecision. It sometimes felt like I had so much to do that I didn't know what to do first. What I did to cope was to focus on one thing at a time and shut out all the other pending jobs from my mind until I actually needed to deal with them.

If I thought too much about the sum of all the things I had to do for the day, it would be too much for me handle - as opposed to breaking them down in manageable chunks. If I concentrated on one thing and then move on to the next without worrying about anything else, it seemed like it would get everything done faster as a whole. This approach would allow me to finish the day's workload without getting too stressed out.

I think this is what I have to do now with my new job, because I honestly feel overwhelmed with all the assignments piling up. It feels like I'm in way over my head with all the research materials I have to read before getting into writing the newsletters I have to finish. Just thinking of all the stuff I have to get done makes me want to do nothing. It's a self-defeating mental habit I know, but I'll have to get around to it sooner or later.