Mountains and Molehills

They say you shouldn’t make a mountain out of a molehill. (I have a couple of questions about that. First off, who is this mysterious “they”? And what do they have against molehills? Whoever they are, they’re probably not liked very much, if all they do is go on about mountains and molehills all the time.)

Where was I?

Oh right. Mountains and molehills. I’m all for the proverbial wisdom of the ages and all, but let’s face it: if you’ve got enough moles, and they all team together and work really hard, those moles can probably come up with some pretty astonishing feats of engineering–up to and including the construction of mountains.

Or at least that’s how it seems to work in my life.

It’s not that I have anything huge going on in my life at the moment. No crises. Nothing that’s sucking away all my time all at once. There are no mountainous problems in Bryceville these days. But there are a whole slew of dedicated moles. Some of them larger than others. And when you’ve got that many moles working against you, you stop caring about mountains and become much more concerned about slowly suffocating under an avalanche of mole-loosened dirt.

Have I taken this analogy as far as it will go? Probably. Will I drop it? Reluctantly.

What do I do when I get all these little molehills swarming around me? (It appears I’m not going to drop it after all.)

I make lists. Lots and lots of lists. I list down every mole I can think of, from the big ginormous ones to the little bitty baby ones. I put them all on a list, and then I look at that list and convince myself why there really aren’t that many moles to begin with. I know it sounds silly, but it really does work for me. Once all my problems are in one spot, it becomes much easier for me to deal with them all.

Of course, that approach doesn’t always work. So I was wondering what other people do when they start becoming besieged by moles. Do you have any mental hacks you use to overcome them? Any calendar or scheduling tricks that help you stay sane? It’s not that I’m close to losing it at the moment, but let’s just say it wouldn’t hurt to have a few more tips on how to deal with them.