At first, agreeing to an extra project or starting a new class feels exciting. Sure, one more deadline is doable. Then you end up with three more meetings a week on your calendar. Before long, the moments that used to be reprieve become stressful, too–your friend’s in town and wants to catch up over drinks, but you’ve got that yoga class you already paid for, so you’ll have to leave work by 6 p.m. even though you haven’t started what’s due in the morning, and your emails aren’t going to reply to themselves. Work quality slips. Sleep, what’s that?

You might even be reading this in procrastination, facing that sliding mountain of work without the energy to scale it. Here’s your six-step climbing plan:

If you feel like you are in an unspoken competition with coworkers over who got into the office earliest, stays the latest, and can answer after-hours emails the fastest, you’re already familiar with the “culture of busy.” Author Brigid Schulte told Fast Company, “In our workplace culture, we reward people who work all hours, are completely work-devoted, and don’t care if they have a life [outside of work].” When you’re overwhelmed, stopping the broken record of “I’m so busy” sets up the right mindset for the next steps:

Starting immediately, be clear about what is and isn’t reasonable for you to take on. Start a “saying no” triage. Rather than a cheerful “sure, I can take that project,” and gritting your teeth a little harder, be honest about your time and energy resources. When you’re unable to do a job well because you’re already over-committed, it’s better to say no now than to miss a deadline or present a half-baked effort.

Writer Kate Hamill nails the priority problem perfectly, for Freelancers Union:

Odds are, you’re obsessing over all of the things you have to do. But is every single one of them really necessary? All too often, we assign TOP-LEVEL RED BLARING PRIORITY to things that can be put off for a day, or a week, or ten days. Where in your life can you find a little give?

The panicky feeling that rises when you’re scrambling to address everything as equally urgent makes you freeze. The bathroom remodeling, the overdue status report, the side-projects you haven’t even started yet–some things can wait, while others truly can’t. Be realistic about which is which.