Plan to conquer!

How many times have you started the day overwhelmed and stressed even before you roll out of bed? Too many things to do, not enough time. Sometimes it's not the sheer number of things that are paralyzing, sometimes it's just one monster task that is pinning your tush in the bed. I've been there too, and to make things worse I'm the queen of procrastination.
I get to work, check my email, check a few blogs, chat with a coworker or two, get some water, open the mail, check another blog or three, and eventually turn my attention to my to-do list. Sadly most of the time that's when I realize that I didn't make a list before leaving the night before and all of my positive resolve flies out the window. On days that an unpleasant task is staring me down not having a to-do list can easily paralyze me for a few more hours.
The sad thing about my terrible work habits is that making a plan would save me hours of anxiety. If I leave work without having made a dent in the monster I end up agonizing about it all night and by the next morning my monster has grown, making it even more impossible to conquer.
I once learned the Weight Watchers motto "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail." It's true for weight loss, and it's true for everything else in life. No problem or situation can't be broken down into small portions, and once the portions are bite size, there's no situation that can't be handled head on. A big project at work, a hard piece of music, a huge party to plan, even dinner or an evening routine, all of it seems more manageable if you consider it piece by piece instead of as a whole.
So go out there and beat all of those monsters into submission, start with a plan and plan to succeed!