|
As a rather ambitious individual, I’ve engaged in all-consuming activities when I still had to make the time to do other things, as well as loaded my plate beyond the heaping point on occasion. Doing so has led to isolated periods of overall dissatisfaction with life and/or physical illness (though thankfully nothing seriously debilitating). As I’ve gotten older and experienced more of these situations, I’ve learned ways to navigate away from the flames. Lists Are Essential Before you start anything, make a list for the plans you have. It’s best to put this together the day before you want to get things taken care of. Put the most important things on the top of your list and don’t worry if you don’t get everything done. I usually shoot for getting half of the things done on my list and save the rest for the next day. One Thing at a Time We live in an age where multitasking is the norm. Even though it’s an expected behavior, trying to do to many things at once may be sustainable in the short term, but after a while it can make you unable to focus on anything. Instead, try focusing all of your energy on your most important task. Once it’s completed, you can start tackling other equally important or less important goals. Don’t Fix Deadlines If you’re working on a project for someone else, this might be unavoidable. However, for your own projects, don’t set any deadlines in stone. Things can come up to disrupt what you want to get done, so setting a loose deadline gives you more of an idea when you want to get something done. It’s certainly more effective than fixating on a certain date, stressing out when your deadline passes, and assigning blame to someone or something for missing your goal. Make Time to Relax Having tons of things to do gets overwhelming on occasion. Taking a few hours a week (I go for one or two hour chunks) to do something with no outside distraction is essential. Take a walk in a park, go read someplace quiet, get a massage; do something that allows you to stop engaging your mind in a task-oriented way. Clean Up I’ve noticed that my diet and exercise habits tend to start taking a nosedive the closer I get to burning out. I eat too much of the wrong food and I drink more beer than I should, which leads to less inclination to get out of bed the next morning. This is one area where keeping a schedule or routine is essential, as if you aren’t feeding and exercising yourself properly, the stress will continue to pile up. There’s nothing quite as stress-relieving as a nutritious meal and a good workout session. More People Means More Time If you’re working on a project with more than one person, realize that everyone has their own schedule they have to work from and that it may not always mesh with yours. Make sure to create realistic and flexible deadlines for all parties involved so that everyone working on the project won’t feel pressured by an inflexible deadline. Don’t Bash Your Head into a Wall There are times when a task seems impossible to finish. Attempts continue to be made, but no success comes from them. While perseverance is key at most times like this, sometimes you run into a situation where you seem to be unable to prevail. In these cases, step back from what you are doing and take a break, then go do something else on your goal list – you did make one, right? Sometimes You Need to Let Go When projects make you want to bash your head into a wall, you may need to give them up. As a personal example, I’ve had albums that I’ve given up working on because my deadline was coming up way too fast, my heart wasn’t really into doing it, and it felt as if I was only continuing with the album to conquer the deadline. The end result wouldn’t have been worth the effort put into it, which is a clear sign that it’s time to reassess things. If you find yourself assessing one of your projects in this way, realize that letting go and working on the other things you want to will save you a lot of grief in the long run. There’s no steadfast rule saying you have to give up a project for good – you can always come back to it a few months or years down the road. We all know that stress is inevitable at points in our lives, but taking the time and energy to make sure it doesn’t become something overwhelming is essential. Realize it’s much healthier in all aspects of life to take longer to get things done rather than driving yourself to meet every self-imposed deadline. Discuss this post at [The Forum of Jason Vincion]! Posted on December 7th, 2009. |
|
 [Subscribe to this Blog] [Friend me on Facebook] [Follow me on Twitter] |
|
 Shizz Block Volume One |
 It Came from Beyond the Oort Cloud |
|
[December 2009 Index] [2009 Index] [Index] |
|
|
[Achieving Goals] [Remembering to Relax] |
|