Unmotivated to Overwhelmed

I’ve observed a growing trend in myself that I want to note here and perhaps get your insight into.
I too often and too easily fall into a cycle of being unmotivated to do things, then become overwhelmed with too much on my to-do list. When I have things to do, even when the tasks are pleasant and enjoyable, I sometimes can’t bring myself to start them. I drift. I procrastinate. I stagnate and then more tasks build up until I am fully overwhelmed with it all.
I’m sitting at my desk now with a fairly short list: baking cookies, making holiday cards, sewing hats, laundry and light housework, some Japanese homework, a few business tasks, a bit of shopping. It isn’t a lot – more than I can do in one day but probably less than two days’ worth – and most of it I will enjoy doing.
And yet I am sitting at my desk. Not cooking, cleaning or creating. Just sitting and staring at news and other people’s blog posts like I have been for most of the day. At the moment I don’t feel overwhelmed, just unmotivated. But I know that if I don’t cross off some of those things before I go to bed tonight, tomorrow I will be equally unmotivated and won’t make any progress on the list. And then another day or two will pass and I will be overwhelmed with things that have to be done before a holiday deadline but simply can’t be finished in time.
Some of the unmotivated side of the problem is that many of my friends are “in the computer” and we communicate via IM and other online tools. If I am lonely, I sit at my desk and wait for them to appear online for a chat. In the meantime, I surf around the web looking things I really don’t need to be looking at. My brain fills up with interesting mind candy and drains of motivation to do things.
I am not sure why I do this. But I don’t like it and I am going to have to find some strategies for making it stop. I don’t have to be extremely efficient, but I do need to break the unmotivated/overwhelmed cycle. Any ideas?