Are You Causing Yourself to be Overwhelmed?
Are you feeling overwhelmed, with too much to do, and not getting it all done…
That’s what I hear from my clients who are busy professionals. And yet I also hear that when they get to the end of the day and they haven’t done the MOST important things on their ‘to do’ list, they know its because they wasted time. Even though they had a lot, maybe even “too much” to do, they also did it to themselves, their time wasting caused them to not get it all done and therefore feel even more overwhelmed.
Every task you accomplish begins with a thought. Every wasting time activity you have begins with a thought. You are having thoughts all day long – in fact, do you know how many thoughts a human being has each day? Scientists tell us its about 60,000 thoughts a day, and every one of them is either in the service of producing the results you need to or else take you further away from the results you want.
Whenever you have a task to do , there are essentially three parts to it – what you are thinking and doing before it, during it, and after it – your thoughts during each of those parts will determine whether you get it done and how good it is. Let’s take the example that you’ve made it a priority to get out an email blast to your clients. Here are the thoughts you might be having about it:
Before:
Approaching the task you are either saying to yourself: “I know exactly what I’m going to do, I have something important to say and I’m going to say it” or you are saying a variation on: “I have so many other things to do other than write this email right now; What are people going to think, what if no one responds to my email? I’m not really sure what I want to say; I have lost my passion for this”
During:
While writing the email you are either thinking: “This is cool, I’m getting into writing this; What’s the next point I want to make; What else did I want to remember to put in there?” OR you are having thoughts like: “I don’t know what to write; That sounds stupid; Why can’t I think of something better to say; That’s my sister buzzing in on the telephone, maybe I will ask her if she thinks it’s a good idea; This is such a hassle to have to write this now.”
After:
At the end of the time you’ve allotted to write the email, you might think:
“Ok, I’m off to a good start, I feel satisfied to let it be for now and come back for another look tomorrow” or you could have thoughts like: “I didn’t do as good a job as I wanted, I’m a loser; Why did I let my sister go on and on like that again? I have so much else to do, I’ll never be able to get to this tomorrow and still get it all done.”
Can you see that the thoughts you are having as you go throughout your day will determine whether you are able to focus on the task or whether you will distract yourself; the thoughts you have will determine whether you allow ideas to flow into your mind so you can get them down ‘on paper’ or whether you will create a critical ‘voice’ inside that will cause you to second guess yourself and prevent your good thinking. Your thoughts will determine whether you are in a good energy state to be productive or whether you will be in a skittish energy state and create distractions for yourself.
Take charge of your mind so it works for you instead of against you!
Sharon Melnick, Ph.D. ‘helps talented and successful people get out of their own way’. She is a psychologist and executive coach for numerous fortune 500 companies and solo business owners. Through research at Harvard Medical School she developed techniques busy professionals use to break through obstacles so they quickly reach goals and dramatically reduce self imposed stress. To make your thoughts work for you instead of against you so you can stop wasting time, download her free audio training at www.endwastedtime.com.