My students are starting to feel overwhelmed right now. They have math tests and English papers and lots of hours at work–two even told me today that they just picked up second jobs. It’s easy for them to give up in the face of so much to do. So it is always at this time of year when I tell them about Anne Lamott’s idea of “bird by bird.” In her book of the same name, she tells the story of her ten-year-old brother who was faced with doing an entire three-month project on birds the night before it was due. As he sat there totally overwhelmed and immobilized by the consequences of his procrastination, his dad came up to him, put an arm around him, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

That is the best advice I’ve ever heard for how to deal with a to-do list that seems impossible. We say it around my house all the time. When my husband or one of the kids or I is staring bleakly at the pile of work to be done, another of us comes by and quietly says, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” It is incredibly good advice and sometimes the only thing that gets us through.