I don’t know about you, but there are times when I have so many plates spinning that it can get a wee bit overwhelming at times.
You know, when you feel like you are being pulled in multiple directions, with, what feels like, a million and one things on your Get S#*t Done list.
And to top it all off, you’ve got extra work to deal with around Health and Safety matters that, whilst you know are important, quite frankly, you have little energy for at this time of year.
Arghhh!!! The end of year can feel tough!
It seems like when people get a sniff of xmas, they move from a leisurely jog, to the pace of a 100m olympic sprint final!
As a coping mechanism, it can be helpful to create an array of mind-boxes. Let me explain…
Creating compartments, or boxes, in our mind, can be super helpful when we are feeling like everything is getting a bit too much.
It’s a bit like sorting your wardrobe. You sort through your stuff, make some sense of it, pop it in its place, and only open the lid of the box when it’s time to ‘wear’ it.
So too our thoughts. We create our mind-boxes; 2021 stuff to do for work, xmas, new year, presents, 2022 planning, reporting, staffing, etc, then put a lid on them. We open the lid when it is time to do, or address it (note, procrastination is another blog post!).
University of California Psychology Department states “New studies have found that multitasking is no longer a skill to brag about. These studies suggest that multitasking causes us to actually make more mistakes, retain less information, and change the way our brain works. Next time you find yourself juggling simultaneous assignments at work, stop multitasking. Give your full attention to one project at a time and you will find your quality of work and efficiency increase greatly.”
Keeping a mind-lid on things until it’s time to do them, allows us the energy to focus on one thing at a time, work with more precision, and feel less overwhelmed.
Moving forward, perhaps consider…
- How many plates are you currently spinning?
- What belongs where, in your mind-boxes?
- What might it be like if you concentrated on one thing at a time?
Have a wonderful week.
Closing the lid, and signing off …for now,
MA 😊
