one of the most boring lessons I’ve learned is that when a task feels overwhelming, you just have to start doing it. Even if you’re not sure how to do 90% of it, look for one small component that seems close and start there. Sometimes it’s reading one article on the topic, or searching one related term, or literally just googling how to do the task. Do anything other than thinking about it. The process of working on a thing inherently makes it less scary.
One thing that always helps me is to write out a list that breaks down each component of the larger task.
For an example, let's say you need to do a big shopping trip at the grocery store. You haven't written out the shopping list. Your mom wants you to pick up certain items for her while you're there, but you don't know or remember what those items are. And you need to put money on your bus card in order to go. You could write out the list like this:
Ask mom what specific items she wants me to pick up.
Write out grocery list.
Load money on to the bus card.
Check bus times online/via the printed bus schedule.
Go to the store and get the food.
Put the groceries away.
And after you complete each of these smaller tasks, you can cross them off the list. This makes you feel a sense of accomplishment each time you knock out one component, and really breaks a tedious chore into more manageable tasks.
