At times over the last week or so, I’ve stepped back and looked at my work load and been simply overwhelmed. I’ve felt a wave of despair that there’s no way I could possibly get it all done on time. Deep down, I knew that wasn’t so. All I’d have to do would be to work a little harder, a little longer, and there would be no problem. But the to-do list is massive, and I get to cross off so very little of it each day that it seems worse than it probably is.

Here’s what happens next: Everything starts to fall into place, and suddenly the sun comes out. (Not literally; it’s raining like a dam exploded.) As of now, the W-2s and 1099s are done, for both companies. That’s a little molehill on the to-do list, and there are mountains of items yet undone, but for the first time I can actually picture myself getting through it all before the deadline (which hasn’t shifted; it’s still next Thursday).

It will take some genuine work. I can’t be the guy who says he’s going to spend the weekend “catching up,” and then spends the weekend catching up on all the back episodes of Gossip Girl recorded on my DVR. That doesn’t mean doing something crazy, like getting up before ten in the morning, either. But once I start knocking things off the list, the momentum is going to get me through it all. I don’t know if I’ll finish everything this weekend, but by Monday morning I know I won’t be stressed about getting done on time. I’ll be stressed, of course, it being Monday and all. But not about that.

You know what could screw this up? I look out the window and see the mammoth rainstorm beating down on us, and I think back to earlier in the month, when many people lost power for several days (and I lost it for one whole day) because of a similar weather event. If that were to happen at just the wrong time (now, for example), I’d be up a creek that would turn into a raging river before I could find a paddle. It probably won’t happen, but I have to worry about something, right?