Stressed out right now? This is what I’m doing about it

I’m stressed out right now! The winter season is almost starting and that means work will be kicking into high gear for me. For the next 4-5 months I won’t just be working in/on my coaching business, but I’ll also be working as a ski instructor. I look at all the things I want done before ski instructing starts and I feel overwhelm setting in.

How on earth will I be able to do all that needs doing and start off the winter season with some semblance of peace of mind? I could feel myself descending into a frenzied running around without getting anything really done.

Then I stopped!

Running around like a headless chicken, not being aware of where one task begins and the other one ends, wasn’t helpful! I had to devise a different strategy.

I made a plan!

As a former project manager I’m of course very familiar with the concept of planning. Somehow though, for a long time I resisted the concept of making plans in my private life or even in my own business. Almost as if the whole idea was too closely related with a part of my life I wanted to leave behind.

If it wasn’t for my own coach, I might still have been in that mindset. She, however, helped me discover the value of actually creating plans for the goals I want to achieve. The chances of my achieving them greatly improved once I actually wrote them out.

(I don’t write 20 page plans nor do I go into full on gant-chart mode, but I do write my goals out as specifically as I can and then reverse engineer them)

Related Post: 4 Things to do A Lot When Learning to Live Your Own Life

I stepped back!

To make a good plan, I had to take a step back and really look at everything a) I was doing and b) that actually needed doing. When I then prioritised the things that needed to be done by the start of the winter Season, I could methodically take each of the tasks on. I also stopped multi-tasking. Instead, I’m taking on one task at a time and only start on a new one when this one is finished.

Of course …

It feels intuitive to stop and step back when there is so much to be done in such a short space of time. It can almost feel like wasted time, because we ‘could be actually doing something’!

However …

When we’re in the stressed-out ‘I could actually be doing something right now’-mode, we’re most likely not at our most effective.

Even though sitting down and creating a plan on how to tackle everything felt like not very effective while I was doing it, now that I have it I’m actually being a lot more efficient. It looks like I’ll actually get everything done.

How does this help you?

When overwhelm starts setting in and you are stressing out, instead of powering through stop!

Take a step back, breath and make a plan on how to handle all that is on your plate.

Make a list of all things that need doing and prioritise them.

Then create a plan!

Do the important and urgent things first

Then go for the urgent things

Finally move on to the important.

Anything that is left on your list that is unimportant and not urgent can be forgotten!

How did it feel to take a step back? Did it help you set priorities and then go out and get everything done? What was your biggest takeaway? Share your thoughts and let me know what you think. Other people, people who are just like you, will be inspired by your ideas and actions.

Not quite sure yet how you too can get a grip on all you have on your plate?

Then let’s talk. Just grab a date and time on my calendar here that suits you and let’s have a conversation about it.

Thank you for reading and adding your voice to the conversation.

As always….

Go dare greatly!