“I feel like I have ping pong balls bouncing around inside my head” said my coaching client the other day. “I just don’t know what to do first or where to start, so I just keep bouncing from one thing to another, and never feel caught up”.
Her experience of overwhelm is very typical of people these days with so much going on. It’s a stressful and uncomfortable place to be.
Lack of focus is very distracting, and is a huge time robber. With lack of focus comes chaos, clutter, disorganization and negative and frustration feelings about oneself or obligations.
Here’s a little exercise I do with my clients to help them regain focus, prioritize and feel more at ease, less stressed and excited once again about their projects.
1) Do a “brain dump”. On a blank sheet of paper, write a list of everything that “needs to get done”. You’ll find that some of it is work related (change my website copy) and some is personal related (take the dog to the vet for his shots). No worries, just get is all down on paper. With it on paper, you can begin to let go of the sense of urgency and overwhelm that storing all these “to-do’s” in your head has caused. You’ll feel more in control and can breathe easier.
2) Now that you can see what’s on your plate, take a look at the list. I like to separate personal from business, and then begin to prioritize.
3) What tasks are “URGENT” and need to get done right away – by urgent I mean that there are huge negative consequences to them, (financially, legally, etc). Mark those with an asterisk.
4) Note what’s left on your list. You’ll notice that there aren’t as many URGENT tasks as you thought. Now you can see the reality of your list, and put the other items in order of importance, from “important” to “nice to do’s but not so important”.
Your list might tell you that you’re a creative thinker, and you’ve placed more on your plate than you really have time to tackle. It’s OK to let some things go, in fact, I advise it.
Your list will also show you how you may be involved in too many activates, and you need to learn to say “no” or set better boundaries.
My last piece of advice to you is to remember that YOU are the foundation of your success, and if you stop taking care of yourself, body, mind, and spirit, you’ll feel overwhelmed more easily. So even though you “might not feel like you have time”, be sure to put YOUR NEEDS on that list of things to get done.
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