Sure signs that you're losing control, in no particular order:
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You have four email addresses and spend the day flipping between accounts
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You have four calendars that should sync to the email addresses, but don't really
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You also have a paper calendar and a wall calendar, just to be on the safe side
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A timezone conversion app just might be your most critical software (it’s awesome, by the way.)
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You budget 'walking time' between meetings even though you work from home.
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You cancel jobs that actually pay you money in order to work on things that don't pay you money, during a time when you could really use the money.
Time for some hard truths #
You can't do it all. That's a certainty.
You may feel like working on four projects simultaneously, while also making supper and doing laundry, is possible. But it’s not. Your colleagues can tell and when you finally do take a quiet moment, your soul / muse / daemon / guardian angel can tell too.
The Power of Choice #
There’s good news, however. You can choose what you work on.
The act of choosing is what will get you back in control. It will give you back your mojo.
My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will. - William James
There are no solutions. Only trade offs. #
You can't have four (or six, or ten) #1 priorities.
If everything is #1, then nothing is #1 and you'll spend your day flipping between email accounts or wondering if you're at the right Zoom call.
Far better to step back, breathe and seriously reflect on what's important to you. I repeat, what's important to YOU. Not what your parents or your friends or 'society' says is important.
It follows that if something is most important, the other things aren't as important. Drop them. If not all of them, at least some of them. That's the trade off you need to make to focus on what's important to you.
Then put that thing on the top of your list. Priority #1. Do that thing without regret. You knew the trade offs and you made the decision. Good for you. The path ahead is clear again - time to get moving.
That's some good advice right there. Time for me to take it.
(Hat tip to Greg McKeown, whose book is blowing my mind. In an awesome way.)
Is this the best news ever? A bunch of malarkey? Let’s discuss in the comments!