It’s no surprise that I often find too much on my plate. There are so many great projects and fun clients to work with that I find it hard to say no. I tend to be optimistic and pile on the work; there is no doubt that my eyes are bigger then my stomach. But I’m part of the clean plate club so I have to finish my plate and follow through with the commitments I’ve made to clients. There is no way I can or want to let them down. The key is to try not to think about how much you have to eat and just deal with it, one bite at a time. You’re just going to psych yourself out and you’re not going to finish. Which is almost what happened to me this morning. After a couple of long phone calls, I got behind and everything I needed to get done was piling up and getting out of control. Then I remembered that when you head to the buffet sometimes you have to loosen your belt, rest a minute, or get up and stretch. Which is pretty much what I did, I left my desk and went for a run. I knew I had a lot to get done but those extra thirty minutes of work weren’t going to be a huge impact on all that needed to be accomplished. So after I loosened that belt and stepped away from the plate for a minute, my appetite returned and I was able to dive back in strong.