I’ll be the first to admit, the past couple of days haven’t been my most productive. Which is totally okay. I’m about to go home to see my family, so I’m doing a bit of a mental reset before I get there to make sure I stay on track with everything, while reducing the amount of overwhelm I feel.
1. Pay attention to the balance between pushing yourself and being kind to yourself.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re a bit of an overachiever like me. Now, I’ve gotten much better about this as I’ve grown up (and even more so after quitting my job), but sometimes I still struggle.
Self-compassion isn’t just about loving your body (though it’s an important element). I credit one of my good friends with helping me realize when is the time to be kind to myself (whether I was beating myself up about my emotions, not being able to handle work, not working towards my goals, or just for being lazy during my limited time off) vs. the time to keep pushing.
Now, I think he erred on the side of sometimes counterproductive self-kindness, but the most important thing he taught me was to pay attention to this crucial balance. Sometimes it’s better to put something off until tomorrow and sometimes it’d make you feel better to get it done, but it’s consciously making that decision that makes the difference.
2. Stay focused on your goals and don’t let yourself get distracted.
I am 100% guilty of this one lately, and I partially blame Facebook ads. Facebook seems to have realized that I’m all about the goal-getting and following my dreams these days and is giving me recommendations for every online course and life coach out there. And it is SO easy to get sucked into the freebies and try to consume as much content as possible.
However, when I did accept a free intro call with a life coach the other day, she emphasized the importance of staying focused on my primary goals over everything else. While she did offer me a discounted trial, I appreciated her honesty and, ultimately, decided I’d rather pay full price when I was ready to really put all my attention into what she had to offer.
That said, I’m still totally working on this one and I’m a sucker for the online course with a money-back guarantee.
3. Break it down into bite-sized chunks. Then break it down again. And again. Until it feels manageable.
I’ve tried writing various to-do lists today, for today and for the next month. Every time I tried, though, I kept getting overwhelmed by the amount I had to do and the amount I was trying to pack into my days to make up for getting a bit behind this week.
That’s when I decided to go back to my second post, “Achieving my Goals 101” to see what I had originally planned to accomplish by the end of this month and “10 Ways I’m Improving my Plans to Reach my Goals” to further hone in on what I needed to do.
Which led me here. And, to be honest, has taken me way longer than I’d like to admit. But it has made me feel better and supercharged planning is the only way I can get things done.
Scroll down to the bottom of the post to see my full plan.
4. Do things that are in line with your goals that will also make you feel less stressed.
For me, I’m able to kill two birds (achieving my goals and reducing overwhelm) by doing yoga, meditation, and lifting. It does take practice to be able to take action when you’re completely paralyzed by stress, but will eventually become a habit (more on habits in another post).
5. Match your goals to your working style.
Some people work better at night, some in the morning. Maybe you’d prefer to work 20 hours one day and none for the next two. Find what works for you and plan your goals accordingly. We often spend too much time fighting ourselves (I know I’m guilty of this!) rather than making small adjustments that will make things infinitely simpler for us. Struggle does not necessarily equal success and making things harder for yourself doesn’t make the outcome more valid (harsh, I know, but I know it’s something I need to remind myself often).
6. Embrace the small wins and use gratitude to fuel yourself.
I’ve been talking about this a lot lately on here and on Instagram and it kind of goes along with the above. I’ve found it so incredibly helpful to force myself to focus on my small wins as a way of retraining my brain to avoid humans’ natural negativity bias whenever possible. For example, the past couple of days I’ve been talking to my friend about manufacturing/designs/materials for my product and she’s been super helpful and willing to connect me to other people have advice for me and I am so thankful to have her. Plus, who doesn’t like to celebrate?