Very recently I found myself stressed out, exhausted, anxious and just generally overwhelmed. I was actually doing fine until a few weeks ago when my manager asked "how much time are you taking off for the baby?".

I hadn't given it much thought until she pointed out "your baby is due in 6 weeks"

Aaahh! I thought... I've got so much to do and I'm going to be so tired, can I even afford this? What about my music project? Will I even have time for my hobbies anymore? The sleepless nights, I forgot about the sleepless nights, god I'm screwed... This project I'm working on is critical, I've got to get it finished before I go on leave! I'm too stressed, I'm burnt out, I need a break!!

That's how my stress level blossomed into raging anxiety until a couple weeks later I stopped listening to the voice in the back of my head and sat down to consider the future rationally. I discussed paternity leave with my wife and settled on taking 1 week working from home before and after the baby is born, with 2 weeks "vacation" time following the birth. Next, I dusted off Omnifocus and started listing out everything I had to do or wanted to do including;  work projects, music, reading, errands, pre-baby, blogging, motorcycle, studying, recipes, etc.

Once I had everything in one place I began to categorize things further into contexts; office, home, email, phone and then even further: home reading, home email, office phone, office online research, etc. Omnifocus is in essence a very robust GTD application with a workflow for projects, contexts, and perspectives.

The same weekend I got my list in order was equal parts stress-free and incredibly productive. Having everything in view meant that instead of idly surfing the web because 'I've just been so busy and stressed and need to do something mindless' I sat down and worked on music, or read a book, or researched motorcycle parts. My stress began to evaporate and in it's place a sense of purpose emerged, I'm Getting Things Done!

...Since I first wrote this 3 weeks ago I've managed to finish a project I'd been working on for 6 months, took 5 years worth of trash to the dump, finished organizing my thousands of CDs, went through our closet, shredded 15 pounds of receipts and paperwork, sorted through all my photos, organized 9 crates of records, and tackled so many other odds and ends it's unbelievable.

Before: ugh, I've got so much stuff to do. I'm stressed and burnt out, I feel so overwhelmed!

After: I've got x/y/z to do and I'm checking them off one by one, I feel so productive!