It's a great reminder about how important it is to take care of yourself, even if you tend to have a very busy life. It could be taking a 5 minute meditation to just writing things down on paper to get it out of your head, and decrease any anxiety over it. I know I've blogged about this in the past, but this has been something that I've had to deal with (and still) in regards to my time. At the moment, I don't have kids, but that doesn't mean I don't do a lot and have a full schedule. I love all the things I do, but, in the past, I was notorious for over scheduling myself to the point of a nervous breakdown! I've really had a breakthrough with this because I'm so aware and tuned into my body, I know when I start to feel overloaded. My friend, anxiety, lets me know. I could blog about anxiety forever, but I'm not going to. I just have to say that anxiety can be your friend, as it tells you when something is wrong. It's another alarm system, which is tied to our emotions (the buzzers). So it's healthy to feel anxiety, unless you let it take you over.
Please read the article (link above) and take a look at these steps you can take to a more healthy, focused you in the midst of your busy-ness :) Namaste!
1. Find time to meditate. It may seem counterintuitive to add something more to an already full schedule, but when you start your day off with as little as ten minutes of meditation and Pranayama breathing you establish an internal sense of balance and calm. If you have a yoga practice, it’s a great way to cultivate that sense of mindfulness that you can return to anytime during the day that the going gets rough. When stressful thoughts start distracting, just return to your breath and restore your balance.
2. Feed your body, fuel your mind – starting with breakfast. Studies show that healthy breakfast of high-quality carbohydrates, lean protein, and healthy fats is essential for optimal mental clarity. In fact, researchers have found that skipping breakfast results in impaired memory and increased fatigue that lasts right up until you start noshing, so why wait?
3. Plan ahead. Keep a schedule in any format that works best for you, and pencil in all the agenda items on your weekly list, including things like grocery shopping or paying bills. While many of these tasks don’t require such careful planning, if they’re written down, they’re less on your mind when they’re on paper or a screen. You can always shift tasks around as the week unfolds, but at least you’re looking at the bigger picture before adding more to-dos into an already full schedule, which leads to my next suggestion…
4. Learn to say no. Over-scheduling is a sure way to stress, and anxiety, which completely undermines organization. Don’t commit to anything you’re not sure you can fit in. Remember, everything always takes longer than you think it will, so if you’re not sure you’ll have time for one more activity, work or play, you probably don’t.
5. Break large projects down into bite-sized tasks. Anything can become overwhelming when pondered in its entirety, but breaking it down into manageable pieces is less intimidating. Once you get started, it’s just a matter of time before you’ll work your way through to completion.
6. Reduce the distractions. Allocate time in your schedule for those activities that require focus and during that time, shut down your email, turn off your phone and remove all other distractions that will interrupt your thoughts and your progress. I know it’s challenging, but the results are worth it!
7. Monitor your multitasking. Suggesting you stop multitasking altogether is just silly. We multitask all the time and often it’s manageable and for some of us even essential. But talking on the phone while reading, writing emails or doing anything else that requires your full attention is ineffective and actually creates more anxiety than problem solving. If a task requires your attention, stay with it until you’re finished, then move on.
8. Finally, and my favorite, schedule in down time. According to Entrepreneur magazine, our body needs to intermittent breaks every 90 to 120 minutes throughout your day. The key is not how long a break you take but that you truly change your focus. So disengage from your task or project–get up from your desk and stretch, get a drink of water or take a walk around the block. Some time away to give yourself a chance to refresh will do wonders for your powers of concentration.
So now when things don’t go according to plan – quite common for many of us, I take a step back to breathe, focus on all I have to be grateful for – and simply reschedule.
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