At the moment there’s a lot going on in the world, to say the least! This can have a knock-on effect on your workload and when you’re crazy busy, it can feel like no matter which way you turn, you can’t find a way to move forward.
This sometimes has a result of increasing the feeling of being crazy busy, which means that no matter which way you turn you can’t move forward, which increases the feeling of crazy busy… and so on… get the picture?
Craig has seen he’s approaching this situation and has implemented a few different strategies to help himself. Here’s what he’s tried:
Recognise it!
The first point is to recognise the signs of what’s happening. When you start to feel that you’re just ‘too busy’ or ‘losing control of stuff’, this should be an alarm bell to do something! Too often people ignore it, think about how they haven’t got the time to do something different and plough on into the fog of crazy busy regardless, hoping it will work itself out.
If you recognise it, you’re already ‘tuned in’ to the fact that something needs to be different, and this will help you think positively about the situation.
Take a step back and look forward
Being in the thick of it and not seeing a way forward is sometimes caused by not being 100% clear on the direction of travel and the overall endpoint.
Take a step back, get out of the detail and remind yourself of the clear outcome that needs to be achieved. If the outcome isn’t clear or just doesn’t feel right, then that may be a cause of the feeling of craziness.
Talk it through and think of the possibilities
Find someone who you can use as a sounding board. Sometimes you don’t want an answer or a solution, you just need someone to listen to you, without interrupting you. This is a great way to clarify thinking.
Also, remind yourself of how good you are; say positive stuff to yourself and remember when you’ve overcome these types of situations before. This will help you look at the situation more positively and think about what’s possible as opposed to what’s not working.
Time to think
Step away, take a walk, grab ten minutes away from everyone and everything… and definitely move away from the laptop and online calls! Creating time to think is vital every day, especially if things are crazy busy. In fact, the busier you get, the more thinking time you need to create. The thinking time will allow the brain time to concentrate on something else, which will help it solve stuff you’ve been stressing about.
There are loads of different things to try, these are just a few Craig used, that have helped him. What techniques have you used that really helped you (apart from running away from the work)?
