Dear ,
Has your mind ever been stuck in overdrive?
Recently, I worked with an executive who was definitely stuck in overdrive. He had a lot going on at work and at home. As I got
to know him more, I noticed that he jumped from one important task to another. Never really focusing his attention on anything long enough to be effective. His mind was spinning with all the things he needed to do and the things that would need to be done in the near future. He was feeling overwhelmed.
When I asked him which task was the most important to him right now, he said it was the job quote he needed to
finish. I asked him what he could do in that moment, about the home project that needed to be completed next week or any of the other items on his to do list. His answer... "I can't do anything about that project while I am here at the office and I can't do anything else while I am working on this quote".
I pointed out that by trying to give attention to every thought that passed through his mind, he was sabotaging
his peace of mind and nothing was getting done. I suggested he step back from everything and go for a brief walk around the building. He agreed to come back to his desk after the walk, close his office door, only work on the job quote and push any thoughts about anything else out of his mind until the quote was completed.
We humans, frequently do this to ourselves. It doesn't matter if you are a grandmother, a
stay at home dad or an executive. Just because a thought presents itself and makes itself seem important, we think we need to grab onto it and wrestle with it. It reminds me of a quote by George Bernard Shaw - “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.”
Thoughts can be as slippery and unruly as a pig. You let a bunch of those thought pigs loose in your head, and before you know it, you are
exhausted from trying to control them. This is how overwhelm happens. If we can understand how we bring overwhelm on ourselves, we can stop it in it's tracks.
I know it's not easy, but we have to train ourselves to focus on the task in front of us and send any thoughts that are not directly related to the current task away. Multi-tasking is not a super-power. It's a recipe for doing lots of things at one time and not
doing anything well.
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Even if you are not interested in a coaching program, if you have a challenging issue in your personal or work life, set up a complimentary coaching call with me.
Who knows, you might walk away with the idea for a solution.
