Feeling Overwhelmed? The Small Shift That Helped Me Finally Make Progress!

Feeling overwhelmed by a big project? This simple mindset shift helped me stop stressing and start making steady progress one day at a time.

A few weeks ago, I stood at the top of our stairs and just looked around.

Every room seemed to tell the story of raising five kids.

Their bedrooms were still scattered with clothes, shoes, and all the little things that had been dropped on the floor instead of put away.

The loft was lined with laundry baskets full of clean clothes that somehow never quite made it back to the bedrooms.

The media room held forgotten cups tucked behind furniture, paper plates that should have made it to the trash can, protein bar wrappers hiding under the couch cushions, and piles of things that no one quite knew what to do with anymore.

Then there was the game closet. And the Lego room.

It wasn’t just messy. It felt overwhelming.

Part of me was frustrated with my kids for leaving it that way. Another part of me was frustrated with myself. How had I let it get this bad?

And because all five of my children have now graduated, I also worried about accidentally throwing away something that might have sentimental value to one of them.

Every time I looked upstairs, I felt the weight of everything that still needed to be done.

If you’ve ever looked at a project and thought, I don’t even know where to start, you know exactly what I mean!

The Moment I Changed My Approach

This year, I’ve been trying to live by a simple personal theme: Build Steadily.

Instead of trying to clean the entire upstairs in one ambitious weekend, I made one small decision.

Each day, I would add one upstairs task to my to-do list.

Not the whole upstairs. Not even an entire room.

Just one task.

Some days that meant organizing one closet. Other days it meant clearing out one corner of a single room. Little by little, the work began to add up.

As I’m writing this, the loft is finished. The media room is finished. And the game closet is finished.

Today, I’ll start on the Lego room.

Somewhere along the way, the Lego room stopped being just a Lego room. It became the place where outgrown clothes were stacked until someone decided what to do with them. Extra boxes landed there. Odds and ends found a temporary home that somehow became permanent. Little by little, the room lost its purpose.

Clearly, the upstairs isn’t completely done yet. But it no longer feels impossible.

Why Big Projects Keep Us Stuck

I’ve started noticing something about myself.

The projects that stay untouched the longest are usually the ones I believe I have to finish all at once.

When I picture the entire mountain, I freeze. The size of the project becomes bigger than my motivation.

Instead of taking one step, I do nothing. And I don’t think this only applies to cleaning.

I’ve seen it happen in homeschooling. We look at everything we want our children to learn and become overwhelmed before we even open today’s lesson.

I’ve seen it happen in business. There are websites to update, emails to write, products to create, and ideas waiting to become reality. Thinking about all of it at once makes it tempting to avoid all of it.

I’ve seen it happen with our health, relationships, finances, and countless other areas of life.

We convince ourselves that if we can’t finish everything today, there’s no point in starting.

But that’s rarely how meaningful progress happens.

Build Steadily Instead of Finish Quickly

Cleaning my upstairs reminded me that progress isn’t usually dramatic.

It’s quiet. And consistent. It’s choosing today’s work without borrowing tomorrow’s.

One drawer becomes a closet. And one closet becomes an entire room. One room becomes two.

Eventually, you look around and realize you’ve made far more progress than you thought possible!

Not because you worked nonstop for an entire weekend, but because you kept showing up.

I think we often underestimate what ordinary consistency can accomplish over time.

We’re drawn to big transformations because they’re exciting. But real life is usually built in much smaller moments.

What This Looks Like in Everyday Life

Maybe your overwhelming project isn’t a messy upstairs.

Or it’s planning your homeschool year.

Maybe it’s finally organizing years of family photos.

Or starting the business you’ve dreamed about for years.

Maybe it’s getting healthier, repairing a relationship, or tackling a home project that’s been waiting far too long.

Whatever it is, try asking a different question.

Instead of asking, How am I going to finish all of this?

Ask, What is today’s work?

That question changes everything.

Today’s work might only take fifteen minutes.

It might be making one phone call.

Writing one page.

Cleaning one shelf.

Reading one chapter.

Scheduling one appointment.

None of those things feels impressive by itself.

But they all move you forward. And forward is far better than frozen!

Faithfully Do Today’s Work

One thing I’ve learned after homeschooling my children for nearly two decades is that growth rarely happens all at once.

Children learn one lesson at a time.

Families build traditions one year at a time.

Strong relationships grow through thousands of ordinary conversations.

The same is true for us. Most worthwhile things are built steadily!

So if you’re staring at your own version of my upstairs today, take a deep breath.

Don’t worry about finishing the entire project. Stop worrying about next week. Don’t even worry about tomorrow.

Just figure out today’s work.

By the time you’re reading this, the Lego room is clean too!

Not because I suddenly found a whole free weekend or a burst of motivation, but because I kept coming back and doing the next small thing.

There are still projects waiting for me – and I suspect there probably always will be. But I’m no longer measuring success by whether everything is finished.

Instead, I’m learning to faithfully do today’s work.

This post was originally published on July 15, 2026.