Bird by Bird: Managing Overwhelming Stress

“Thirty years ago,” Anne Lamott writes in her book Bird by Bird, “my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’” That’s it.

Bird by bird, starting with a bunch of easy birds to help you feel accomplished and then tackling a hard one to gain serious traction and reduce your stress level. All timed. Working within a specific and limited time frame is important because the race against time keeps you focused. When stress is generalized and diffuse, it’s hard to manage.

Using a short time frame actually increases the pressure but keeps your effort specific and particular to a single task. That increases good, motivating stress, while reducing negative, disconcerting stress. So, the fog of feeling overwhelmed dissipates, and forward movement becomes possible.

Harvard Business Review, HBR Guide to Managing Stress, Harvard Business Review Press.