If you feel overwhelmed by your harried, endless to-do list-making, stressed-out and mostly joyless life (which for me is check, check, check and check), you might think as you read the book Overwhelmed: Work, Love and Play When No One Has the Time that Brigid Schulte is really YOU. Living in an alternate Twilight Zone-like dimension, where she took the time to research and write the book, so that the you in THIS dimension could read and benefit from it.
Rather than review the book in a traditional sense, instead let me tell you what it’s prompted me to do:
- Rethink how I approach my work. Instead of constantly switching between tasks, I plan to identify one key project or task for the day, the week, and just do that. In “pulses” of 30 to 90 minutes, with breaks in between to refresh my brain.
- Clarify what I want to do at work, and what I don’t, and make the parts of my job I’m most passionate about how I spend the majority of my work time.
- Create and stick to clear boundaries between the work and personal realms. Stop checking and responding to messages every 10 minutes around the clock.
- Be more present with the people I love. Prioritize quality time with them now and often and frequently, not “when I get done with everything else” or my next vacation. Appreciate them in the moments we share.
- Find more ways to love, value and care for myself. Stop worrying about everyone else first, leaving myself only occasional scraps.
- Allow myself to play. Participate in true leisure activities that I enjoy. Seek out and relish fun, on my own and with my kids.
Let the journey begin today, my friends!