Plus Our Favorite Products We Use to Get Things Done

Living in a pandemic world with a 24-hour news cycle is exhausting. Living in a pandemic world with a 24-hour news cycle while also working, maintaining a home, raising kids (who may now be going to school from that home), and trying to prioritize your own self-care is downright overwhelming. Fortunately, there’s a natural resource that can help us overcome overwhelm, reign in that to-do list, and feel more balanced overall.

Using plant medicine to be productive may sound counterintuitive, but not every strain or product locks you on the couch with the munchies. Many can help boost creativity, focus, and energy, especially if paired with a complementary task. We did some research and experimenting to find the best products to reduce overwhelm and increase focus, whether you’re spending the morning on financial planning or giving the house an overdue deep clean.

Read on for our favorite tips, tricks, and products we found to help you get things done and feel good while doing it. 

Best CBD Product for Relaxation & Tips on How to Reset

Reset Your Headspace

We know this isn’t always an option, but if you can find the time to relax and reset, it can be helpful to clear your head before diving into your to-dos.

If you find clarity in movement, consider going for a 10-minute walk around the block or doing some easy stretching from home to get the body moving. Or, if you reset better in a relaxed environment, try a catnap or quick bath or shower to put your mind at ease.

One of our favorite products we found to help us calm down and reset is Elmore Mountain Therapeutics CBD Tincture. It takes effect quickly and turns the loud “where do I even begin” thoughts down to a whisper so you can prioritize your goals with a clear head.

Prioritize Your Goals

Taking a step back to reset can make prioritizing your tasks less overwhelming, but it’s also important to prioritize in a way that works with you, your schedule, and your workstyle. Here are a couple of our favorite ways to prioritize:

Set Three Outcomes for Each Day

The pressure to get everything done today makes it feel that much worse when everything isn’t done by the end of the day. One way to accomplish things and actually feel accomplished is to determine three—just three—outcomes you need today. If you know the three outcomes that must be there at the end of the day, it’s easy to prioritize your tasks for the day—do only the tasks that will lead to those three outcomes.

Schedule Your Days with a Theme

If you have a lot on your plate, it can help to schedule out your days according to themes. Create 3-5 themes, for example, Family Goals, Work Goals, and Home Goals, and designate a day or two for each. That way, if you know Wednesdays and Saturdays are dedicated to your Home Goals, you don’t have to worry about those tasks any other day of the week. This helps to keep your head clear and your momentum focused and forward.

It also helps to talk yourself through the why behind the tasks you’ve set for each day. Say out loud, “If I don’t do laundry today, the kids won’t have anything to wear to school tomorrow.” Adding the why brings your goals back into focus so you’re not distracted by the task itself.

Best Products to Reduce Overwhelm & Get Things Done

With your head cleared and your goals prioritized, it’s time to get to work. Cannabis is a great coworker because each strain and product produces different effects, so you can pair them to match the task at hand. It also helps to create or find a playlist for each type of task to amplify its effects and the headspace you’re in.

Here’s what we found works best for us:

Deep Focus: Focus Hemp Co.’s Daily Vitality Tincture

If you need to knock out a task that requires a lot of brainpower, like financial planning or something math-related, turn on a focus soundscape—our favorite is brain.fm—and reach for a product with high-CBD content. It can help to balance mood and ease anxiety, making it easier to focus on more difficult tasks. The best for focus that we found was Focus Hemp Co.’s Daily Vitality Tincture. It’s also infused with other botanicals like Eleuthero Root and Ashwagandha to help you relax and focus.

Household Chores: Magnum PI Platinum Vape

When the house is nearing condemnation and needs a good cleaning, we love to combine a high-THC strain with a little caffeine. It can be easier to get chores going before the house is up and moving, so we like to wake up early on Saturday, brew some black tea, pop our headphones in, and use a Magnum PI Platinum Vape Cartridge. With about 90% of its cannabinoid content being THC, its euphoric and energizing effects take hold quickly so you can get right to work and knock out your main goals before the house is up and ready to help.

Cannabis and Creativity: Island Sweet Skunk / Yummi Karma Stay Lifted Drops

Cannabis really shines when it comes to working on creative tasks. Research shows it can increase blood flow to the brain’s frontal lobe, the area that’s associated with creativity, and it encourages divergent thinking (AKA brainstorming).

The best strain for creativity we found was Island Sweet Skunk, a Sativa-dominant hybrid known for its uplifting effects. If smoking isn’t your thing, we also found a creativity boost with Yummi Karma’s Stay Lifted Drops. These work just like a tincture but have more THC to offer than most.

High Notes

Being a parent in today’s world is exhausting and overwhelming. Fortunately, cannabis can not only help you to overcome overwhelm, it can help you prioritize and accomplish your goals so you have fewer tasks to feel stressed about. Here’s what we found works best for us:

• Reset your headspace with Elmore Mountain Therapeutics CBD Tincture and a 10-minute walk or catnap.
• Prioritize your tasks by setting three must-have outcomes for each day or organizing your days by theme (or both).
• CBD can help to balance mood and ease anxiety, making it easier to focus on more difficult tasks. The best CBD for focus that we found was Focus Hemp Co.’s Daily Vitality Tincture.
• A high-THC strain and a little caffeine are great for knocking out household chores. We love our Magnum PI Platinum Vape Cartridge.
• The best strain for creativity we found was Island Sweet Skunk, a Sativa-dominant hybrid known for its uplifting effects. We also enjoyed a creativity boost with Yummi Karma’s Stay Lifted Drops.

Of course, everyone’s experience is different, so you may have to do some experimenting of your own to find what works best for you. But no matter the product or consumption method you choose, it can make a great companion for overcoming overwhelm and getting things done—something we could all use a little help with in today’s overwhelming world.