You Win!!! You're Busier Than I Am
I’m not sure when it happened, but over the past several years, a competition emerged over who is busier. It’s the oddest thing. You hear co-workers trying to one up each other as to who has it worse. One cancelled a vacation, and the other one proudly states that they have not had a vacation in years. Instead of valuing self-care, we are now a society that tries to outdo one another in terms of how “important” and “valued” we are. What that says to me is that there could be a level of fear or avoidance. What is also says to me is that we’re not valuing ourselves.
First of all let me say, whatever you chose to do in life, a homemaker, a factory worker, a CEO or a journalist, you are important and you are valued. Your importance is not aligned to your title, but it’s aligned to the impact you have on the world, to your family, to your friends, but most of all the impact you have on yourself. In case no one ever told you, let me share a quote from The Help, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” Protect yourself. Let’s value ourselves and not the story we tell ourselves about being busy.
It’s fine to fill our days productively, but being busy to the point of overwhelm, where all we are talking about is how busy we are, is a sure sign that we’re out of alignment. There are cycles in many business that lead to weeks or even months of extra workload that can cause us to feel busier than normal or even overwhelmed, but prolonged periods of overwhelm can and often do lead to burnout. Burnout, as defined by the Mayo clinic, “is a state of physical or emotional exhaustion that also involves a sense of reduced accomplishment and loss of personal identity”. People who are burnt out often lack sleep, lack creativity, are often cynical, seen as less collaborate, and are easily frustrated. One result of burnout is poor performance. When we are busy to the point of burnout, we often are less productive.
People who are dealing with burnout, are typically operating in catabolic energy. They are at the effect of life and not at the cause. When we are in burnout, we often feel like there are no options. Maybe we start to feel sorry for ourselves and secretly question our own abilities. We may start to operate in this space where we feel like we need to prove something, as if there is a secret that were hiding. The boss might find out that were not smart enough, maybe were not cut out for this job. Instead of addressing the inner critic, we immerse ourselves in busy. To address the inner critic, would be to do something out of the norm for us. By that I mean, addressing the inner critic who is telling us that were not smart enough, were not good enough, would be to acknowledge that the inner critic is wrong. We are smart enough and good enough, but we’re stuck in a story. If we want to get unstuck, we need to get curious about our thoughts, and the truth about why we’re settling for busy….The truth might be Fear. It might be fear of being the only one who will speak up and offer a new way to operate. It might be fear of actually having some balance in life…we could be covering issues at home or in our personal lives that we don’t want to deal with. It could also be fear of the unknown.
When you get to the point of overwhelm, it’s difficult to see options when we operate in a catabolic energy. Thru coaching, we can work together so that you can see that you do have options available to you. It’s time that you put yourself first. Once you regain control, and allow yourself balance, you can not only be restored, but you can begin to excel professionally and personally.