[kingsinger]

I have a few templates that are very similar to yours, except to the extent that they are specific to my work, which isn't design.

But the concept is the same.

I've found the benefit of this to be twofold:

1. It saves me time starting a new matter.

2. It has encouraged me to think more consciously about what my workflows typically are.

I'm not slavishly rigid about sticking to the template. But often, by fitting a given project into one of these workflows, it helps me to give it a shape in might not otherwise have. And this tends to make things less overwhelming.

I sometimes forget this, but typically if I'm overwhelmed by something, it's a good sign that I should probably step back and see if I can break it down into smaller chunks (and keep doing that until I find a chunk small enough that I actually do that chunk).