Juggling multiple ideas and goals—to write, exercise, read more, wake up early and so on—is a tough gig that often begins with excitement, but ends with procrastination, and failure to finish any one of the ideas we started.

Here are five different things to do when you're overwhelmed with too many ideas and goals.

Why do we fail to follow through on our ideas?

"I have too many ideas for a lifetime." — Taylor Wilson

In 2003, Sheena Iyengar, Psychologist and Professor at Columbia Business School, conducted an 800,000 employee strong study, to investigate the effects that adding more investment choices had on their participation in retirement saving plans. [1]

At the end of the study period, the researchers gathered the data and plotted the results to answer the question: would more employees participate in retirement saving plans, if more investment choices were made available to them?

As we'd predict, the answer is yes. Afterall, more choice is better. And so, this would be the researchers' conclusion. Or, was it?

The researchers discovered that adding more investment choices, reduced the likelihood that employees would participate in retirement saving plans.

As per the diagram above, for every 10 funds added to the array of options, the rate of participation drops by 2%. In fact, for those employees who chose to invest, adding more investment choices increased the chances that employees would invest in more conservative funds.

This is the paradox of choice. More choice often leads to less action. The more ideas and goals we pursue, the less likely we'll follow through on any one of them. And vice versa.

There are other explanations for why we fail to finish what we start. Lack of time, fear of failure, overwhelm from multiple choices that drain energy and a decline of excitement after starting a new project, can lead to chronic procrastination.

When we get stuck in motion at rest, instead of motion in action, our time and energy are wasted on efforts that produce little results.

Here are five different ways to avoid overwhelm, get started, and follow through on your ideas.

Five ways to overcome Too Many Ideas Syndrome

1. Create mini-deadlines

The more time it takes to complete a task, the greater the likelihood that we fall victim to 'Parkinson's Law,' which states that, work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

For example, if you have one week to complete a three-hour task, according to Parkinson's law, the task will increase in complexity and keep dragging on for the duration of the week. The best way to combat this problem, is to create mini-deadlines that force you to finish tasks within a short time frame.

Action: Create a list of your daily tasks and note (approximately) how much time it takes to complete each one of them. Then, cut the time limit of each task in half. Aim to finish each task by these deadlines.