Managing Overwhelm
“Tell me how to manage the constant tug of war between work and life.”
I don’t remember now whether this working woman had kids or not. But it hardly matters — so many of us suffer from overwhelm, and don’t have the clarity of focus.
What has us constantly pushing to the edge of our resources? How do you be happier, and less overwhelmed, about the progress you are making? It’s fairly simple. Close the gap between expectations and our reality.
My favorite tools for this are:
1. Look at what you’ve accomplished in the last week, month or year. It turns out we skip over a lot. Taking a few minutes to appreciate how far you’ve come can provide a huge sense of accomplishment, and reduce overwhelm.
2. Manage Expectations: This isn’t about lowering your goals or standards. It’s about dealing with the present and near future, versus thinking too far ahead. It’s also about working on your stuff rather than letting the comparison gremlin create your goals.
3. Be yourself. Know what you are good at and what you contribute and let go of what doesn’t come naturally. It’s not that you’ll never have to do tasks you don’t like. But judgment around what we aren’t naturally good at has a way of weighing us down.
Off now to create my goals for the week, hopefully not too ambitious!