Are you caught in the juggle of life? Moving from one responsibility to another and it just seems endless? It might be your job or business, the house, the kids, pets, other family…the list could go on. If you’re anything like me then that is just exhausting, especially if it feels never-ending. The good news is the solution to the juggle may be simpler than you than you think.
I used to live a stressful life. I wanted everything to be perfect, which just added to the amount of stress that I put myself under. I used to juggle and try and do ALL THE THINGS. Constantly. No way would I sit down and relax. Just to highlight this, it took me collapsing at a fitness event for me to slow down and think about me!
I learnt to adopt new values, including progress over perfection, as well as keep things simple. I’ll go into why these are important in another post, as it formed a big part of my journey from frantic to calm. My mindset and wellbeing improved and now I’m passionate about helping others do the same.
So let’s talk more about juggling
It’s very easy to take on too much, and when you’re trying to do lots of things at the same time, it can be difficult to keep track of how much you have really taken on.
You might be trying to do two or three (or more things) at the same time. This could be checking your emails whilst cooking dinner and keeping an eye your kids. Having a conversation with someone whilst picking up things in the supermarket, ringing a friend whilst you sort out bills and paperwork. There are lots of examples and I could go on.
How does that juggling make you feel? I asked some women this recently and they said
- Tired
- Stretched
- Shattered
That’s because when you are juggling (too many tasks at the same time), your brain is having to work that much harder. When you have a lot on your plate, as they say, the tendency is to try and multi task, just like the examples above, you aim to do more than one thing at at time in an attempt to get more done. You might flit from task to task as your mind is working overtime. You give focus to things as you remember things, as you don’t want to them to get forgotten again.
But this is what’s happening in reality, you are only partly focusing on each thing. You cannot focus on something when you are constantly context switching. Research has shown that when you switch from one task to another, it takes you 20 minutes to regain focus. If you’re doing a task that’s due to take an hour just think how much time you’re also wasting! Multi-tasking doesn’t work. You cannot fully concentrate on two tasks at the same time.
The Solution to the Juggle
So let’s talk about another way. The proven solution to the juggle of life; focus on one thing at a time. It’s as simple as that.
This was a game-changer for me. Here’s why its so effective.
Benefits of this solution
- less stressful and frantic
- feel more calm as you have one focus
- greater sense of achievement, as you’ll actually get more done
Here’s how to make it work for you
- If you have lots of things you’re trying to remember, write them down
- Of all the things that you think you need to do, decide what really needs your attention at that moment
- Give your full focus to the task in hand. This takes practice, but you’ll get there.
- When completed, or time block up, move onto the next thing.
- Smile and feel good that you’re ticking things off the to do list and living with intention.
You may just realise you’ll get to the end of your day still smiling, less exhausted and able to enjoy your evening. There’s actually a more detailed system for this, it’s what I teach in Less Busy More Balance and there’s more information coming on that soon.
So what to do you think? I invite you to give this a go in the next few days and let me know how you get on. Why not comment on this blog post or share your experiences on Instagram using @tinasimplyshine.
An Opportunity for YOU
If your day doesn’t feel like your own. If you are working around other people’s responsibilities or things you think you “should” be doing. If you are fed up of living on someone else’s timetable or doing things that you think are expected of you. Or maybe you don’t even know where you day goes! Then this is the challenge for you.