If you were with me the last couple of weeks, thank you for being part of my Life In Control launch – and for sticking with me!
It was a pretty intense period as I was pouring my time and energy into connecting with fabulous people, writing a ton, working out technology challenges, running webinars, ads, and live streams, in addition to my regular workload, family commitments, and house construction.
You get it because you’ve been there.
Your “regular” day-to-day schedule is crazy enough but when you pile on an additional, out of the ordinary project you move the needle to insane mode.
Through this, I embraced and applied two lessons. I’d like to share them with you today.
Numero uno: The more you have on your plate, the more overwhelmed you are – the more you need to focus on self-care.
It is totally counterintuitive.
When you’re drowning in stress and barely have time to grab a bite to eat, how can you take MORE time for yourself?
It is in fact, in exactly these moments when you need to recalibrate.
It’s when you need to compose yourself, reassess, reprioritize, and reenergize your mind and body.
Your knee-jerk reaction may be to keep pressing on, faster and harder but you will only add to your anxiety and wear down your clarity and creativity.
On the flip side, when you pull yourself out of the chaos, even momentarily, you jolt your internal and external forces, which brings your heart rate down and your senses to the forefront.
So what does this “self-care” look like?
During my recent intense period, I journaled more regularly and frequently than usual.
By simply writing my fears and challenges as well as my excitement and accomplishments, I gained clarity – daily.
I also journaled about my goals. Many days it was a simple list of my top three goals for the day.
Other days I spent another minute or two writing why they were important to me.
When I felt like I was falling off track over the day, I took sixty seconds to write down my three goals again.
There is something magical about writing. It is cathartic and eye-opening.
It is also extremely simple to do.
Which is probably why we don’t do enough of it.
Even if writing is part of your regular practice, amp it up when you’re under more stress.
It’s what kept me in alignment with my goals and reconnected my actions to my heart.
I also made sure I walked outside every day. No matter what. No matter how crazy the day was I made exercise a priority.
Not only for my health but for my sanity.
Simply walking outside got me out of my stressful environment, gave me clarity, and simply felt good.
No matter how late I was running, I felt re-energized after my walk.
I also made it a point to take short 5-10 minute walks throughout the day, especially when I was feeling stressed.
Yes, just when I thought: “I don’t even have time to pee!” was precisely when I threw on my slip-on sneakers and took a short stroll.
Again, clarity and serenity. Exactly what I needed. But counterintuitive indeed.
Numero dos: Create systems along the way.
This sounds like a really bad idea when you’re in a state of panic or massive anxiety.
While you’re drowning in a flood of demands, this is not exactly the time you’re thinking about “process improvement.” Really, is she insane??
I get it.
But I also know that if I take the time to get a process in place, I will save time down the road.
It takes time to make time.
When you start a new project or endeavor you don’t always recognize how much is ahead of you or where you wish you had a process in place – now and for the future.
At some point down the road, you’ll have a similar request, demand, or project on your plate.
Whether that happens three weeks from now, three months from now, or three years from now – it will happen.
For example, during my program launch the last couple of weeks, you may have received over a dozen emails from me. Each one takes a lot of effort to write.
About a third of the way through I thought, “I’m really going to want these in one place when I launch my program again.”
So I created a repository (AKA: Word document) where I copied and pasted each email, date, subject line, and “what I would change next time” thoughts.
Three to six months from now I’ll be kissing my past self for getting this organized and into a “system.”
I created other documents, folders, and checklists for other resources like ads, response rates, customer information, and tech improvements.
Now I’m not gonna lie and say I had these all up and running and complete before my launch was over.
Several of them were created afterward, which meant I had to dedicate time to gather my bits and pieces of information and learning to organize them in a systematic manner.
Yes, it took some time. But I am fully aware that…
It takes time to make time.
And that again, my future self will thank me and my present self will feel far more in control of my destiny knowing I have systems in place.
So there you have it.
Two counterintuitive ways to get through overwhelming weeks to create more time and less stress.
Are you ready to put these to the test the next time you’re in a period of more-than-usual stress?
I’d love to hear what you think. Shoot me a message. (mridu@lifeisorganized.com)
Remember…
No matter how on top of your shizzle you are, you’re always going to encounter especially stressful times. The question is, how are you going to respond?
To getting more of the right things done,
Xo,
Mridu
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