{"id":334,"date":"2021-02-02T17:30:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T17:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/?p=334"},"modified":"2021-02-04T15:45:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-04T15:45:55","slug":"what-to-do-today-4-ds-to-help-you-manage-overwhelm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/academicskills\/2021\/02\/02\/what-to-do-today-4-ds-to-help-you-manage-overwhelm\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do Today: 4 Ds to help you manage overwhelm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by\u00a0Kelly Sikkema<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some days it\u2019s hard to know where to start. There are lectures to watch, additional reading to catch-up on, that essay to finish by the end of the week, those seminar notes to review. Oh and the laundry basket\u2019s overflowing and that other essay title has just been released. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s natural to feel overwhelmed when so many things are competing for our attention. And, when we\u2019re stressed, we often find it harder to prioritise, assigning every task equal importance.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is when the 4 Ds might come in handy. This is a short-term time management strategy designed to be used on the day to help regain a bit of perspective. This technique can help us prioritise our tasks for the day so that we can at least make a start, make some progress and start feeling productive and in control again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 4 Ds stand for Do, Defer, Delegate and Dump.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What will you focus on today? To help you decide, you may like to think about: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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