How busy are you? When was the last time that your life seemed completely organized and time management was not an issue? Being excessively busy gives us all a sense of pride, a sense of purpose. Chaotic, overwhelming, non-stop activity, however, can take its toll on our emotional condition, health and relationships.
When was the last time you took a real vacation? And by real vacation we mean one that didn’t involve your phone ringing every five minutes or you checking emails frantically to make sure that clients aren’t pissed by the fact that you went away for a couple of days.
There’s a theory that we’ve all become addicted to busyness and being overwhelmed. Putting an end to it and changing the daily routine could be a really challenging task, especially if you aren’t prepared for the peacefulness and calm that will follow. Still, if you’re constantly overwhelmed and you feel like changing your life is the only way to move forward, you should certainly keep on reading.
Are You Really that Busy?
There’s a big difference between being busy and being disorganized. We live in a fast-paced world and we all experience a sense of urgency. This sentiment is quite chaotic and not often directly linked to the amount of work that we need to have done.
Washington Post’s Brigid Schulte calls it the “overwhelm cultural epidemic.” We’re always struggling for time, always running behind and we have tons of household chores to deal with when we get done with the office work.
According to Schulte’s theory, the language that we use is quite determining for our reality. For many individuals, professional busyness and being completely dedicated to a family are seen as marks of social status. This is why so many people are eager to feel overwhelmed and to welcome this chaotic behavior in their lives.
People are overwhelmed because they crave the busyness and they’re eager to welcome it in their lives. The conclusion is that you are to blame for your own busyness and you can easily get your life in order, which will leave a lot of free time.
To do that, however, you’ll have to struggle with the cultural phenomenon and the positive connotations linked to being exceptionally busy.
Addiction to being Overwhelmed: Is that a Real Thing?
It’s very likely that you’re addicted to being overwhelmed. To determine if this is really the case, you’ll need to ask yourself a number of key questions:
- Are you afraid of having too much leisure time and not knowing what to do with it? Do relaxing activities get you bored?
- Do you feel ashamed because you have some free time and everybody else seems to be crazy busy?
- Is your personal life suffering because you’re busy all the time but you can’t do anything about it – that’s your job after all!
- Are you afraid of being an ordinary person that has discovered the perfect work/personal life balance?
- Do you feel unworthy because others are overachieving and you aren’t certain whether you also are?
Feeling restless, troubled and vulnerable whenever you aren’t busy is indicative of being drawn to this lifestyle. Acknowledging your desire for busyness, however, is the first step towards making a change for better.
Tips for Overcoming Busyness
Remember that busyness and productivity are two different things. You can be incredibly productive without spending every single minute running around to deal with chores, staring at the computer screen or summarizing all of the tasks that you’ll have to deal with in a little while.
So, what does it take to get your life in order and stop being overwhelmed? The following tips can help you make that transition:
- Delegate: like to control everything that you do? Guess what, trying to accomplish everything on your own will sooner or later lead to sub par performance. Learn to prioritize and to delegate some tasks to the people around you. Focus on the things that you do best – everything else could be handled by somebody else.
- Learn to say no: saying no every now and then, whether at home or in the office, can be incredibly healthy and empowering. Saying yes to more tasks than the ones you can handle will lead to much bigger problems that simply refusing.
- Determine a timeframe for the execution of each task: if it’s something that you’ve done thousands of times, you’ll know how long it would take to complete. Use a timer and focus on the task at hand. Otherwise, you’ll probably get distracted while doing your job, which will make you waste a lot of time (thus experiencing incredible busyness and feeling overwhelmed).
- Work when you’re most productive: are you a morning person? If so, you may want to deal with the most difficult tasks immediately after you get up. Having a good idea about when you’re most productive can help you deal with a large volume of work.
- Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize: we are all so used to the routine and the daily tasks that we rarely take the time to think about what’s important. Sit down and relax for a few minutes. Think about your life and what matters the most to you. Is it your children? Your significant other or friends? These are the people and the activities you should be dedicating most of your time to.
It takes time to stop being busy and to accomplish balance in your life. Introduce modifications one at a time and celebrate every little achievement. You’ll soon see your daily existence change for the better and become much more fulfilling.
Wilma Derksen, C.E.C.
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