Are You So Busy That Nothing Gets Done?

“Busy is a drug that a lot of people are addicted to.” Rob Bell

Exhausted woman from Stress Express!Too Busy for Life?

My next book is on women and overwhelm, and I find that in general, with the digital world being on 24/7, we have so much more to do.  And less time to do it.  And than results in major stress and burnout.  I know what it feels like to have worked hard for 8 hours and wonder at the end of the day, what did I get done?  Here are a few cures:

The Solution to Busyness

Do a Data Dump In the course Managing Accelerated Productivity, I learned how to do a data dump. Write down everything you have to get done in every area of your life.  The list is usually several pages. Afterwards, organize it into categories: Urgent, Important, Someday Maybe, Next Week, Next Month, etc. And then schedule each item in your calendar. The Someday/Maybe need not be scheduled, but write it somewhere so your mind won’t have to carry it around. (Evernote is a great app for this.) )It  helpa to actually write it all out and then highlight it in your favorite colored marker when you have assigned a time and date to it. Your little kid inside loves that!

Evaluate your calendar Are you too busy because you want to be? Are there things you should be saying no to?  How much of your day is driving your kids to activities or wasted in meaningless meetings? Take back your time.

• Use  smarts tools  Kanbanflow®, Sanebox® and other software can help with your time management, email and overwhelm. Try different apps and strategies to save yourself time.

Accept the Inevitable We will never get it all done because there is not enough time in the day and because we want a good quality of life. Life balance is important. Realize some tasks are less meaningful and just won’t happen. And that’s ok. Delegate, decide not to do and enjoy your life.

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©2017, Snowden McFall All Rights Reserved. You may share this post and reprint with author reference and copyright.

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Overwhelmed? How to Regain Focus

Do You Have Cognitive Overload?

“Information overload is a symptom of our desire to not focus on what’s important. It is a choice.” Brian Solis

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-business-woman-cubicle-overworked-stressed-image5934154We receive so much data that we can barely comprehend all that is coming into our minds. Right now, you may be thinking about your next meeting, responding to a text, planning your tweets for the day and answering a call. Whew- no wonder we have information overload. Our brains are overwhelmed with all the distractions.

A recent Stanford study found that those who spend lots of time on social media, surfing the Internet and multi-tasking had poor cognitive skills. They could not distinguish well between what was important and what was trivial. “They are suckers for irrelevancy.”

How to Regain  Focus:

In his book, Search Inside Yourself. Chade-Meng Tan of Google, shares some keys to regaining cognitive clarity.

Monitor what you read and how you do it– If you find your mind wandering while reading, bring your attention back to what you are doing. Keep practicing this skill.

Use active listening Have someone speak for 3 minutes and you listen, Then repeat back to the person with the preface ” What you said is important. Do you mind if I repeat it back to see if I have it right?” (People LOVE this- they love to be heard.)

A few tips from me:

Do 1 thing at a time. That’s it. One thing and do it well and complete it. Take satisfaction and then move on to the next one thing. Your focus will improve. Multi-tasking is terrible for your brain.

• Go tech free for a day this weekend. Lots of research show the value of this. It’s like rebooting your brain.

• Get quiet and go outside in nature.  Life becomes much simpler away from the office and computer.

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©2015, Snowden McFall All Rights Reserved. You may share this post and reprint with author reference and copyright.

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What To Do When You Are Overwhelmed

Take Control of Something Small

When you have too many projects going on and suddenly another lands in your lap, when your kids’ activities seem too onerous on your already hectic schedule, and when you can’t imagine where you would find time to exercise, stop.  Take a few minutes to yourself and breathe.

Stressed out Woman from Fired Up! and Stress ExpressOverwhelm is very common in  American society. We are on 24/7 with cellphones and computers and that means for some of us, our brains never stop.  The danger with that is you never get the critical rest your body and mind desperately need, and you don’t have any resources to fall back on.

Next time you are overwhelmed and feel out of control, try this.  Take control of one small thing that has immediate visible, tangible results.  Like clean off your desk.  Or file the mountain of paperwork sitting on top of your file cabinet.  Something you can see right away.  Afterwards, you will feel a sense of power and accomplishment and you can handle the next task. You’ll feel more balanced.
Then you can prioritize your highest leveraged activities and start managing them in peace and quiet with your phone off for a good 90 minutes, for maximum productivity.

You can conquer overwhelm and gain control of your time. Try it.

 

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