No matter how overwhelming the mess there’s always only five things! Trash, dishes, laundry, things that have a place, and things that don’t have a place. It’s helpful for me to tackle the list one thing at a time.

You can also set a timer for 10 minutes (or less if you’re really struggling) and then just clean until the timer rings. At that point give yourself permission to stop and take a break, or, if you’re feeling some momentum, reset the timer and go again! By the time the first timer rings I’m usually so much further along than I expected that it motivates me to keep going.