Three Sentences to Keep You Smiling When You’re Crazy Busy

Quick advice to refocus your mind

Admit it. We’ve all said, “There’s so much I have to do today!” more than we’d like. You start going through the list in your head as the stress builds like bricks piling up on your shoulders.

How can you lighten your mental load?

When I’m not teaching my students directly, there are countless responsibilities I could be taking care of while in my classroom, like planning, grading, and answering emails. Not fun and exciting, but they have to get done.

I love writing articles, and when you’re trying to keep up with a day job and family life, making time for creating can feel like a burden. Forgetting all it took to get to this place, remembering the privilege I have to do what I do each day can get lost in the shuffle of a long to-do list.

Life feels overwhelming, for sure. You do need a good attitude to make the best of it, though. Here are three phrases to help pull you back into the right mindset.

1. Stop telling yourself, you have to—say you get to

You get to write articles you enjoy that help others. The reason you have all of those tasks at work is because of all the effort you’ve put into getting there, and you get to do them.

You get to live the life you worked hard for all these years.

Does this mean you’ll never get tired, frustrated, or fed up? No. We all do at times. Finding the proper perspective on challenges in your personal and professional life can bring your mind back to a gratitude mindset.

Our attitude changes once we experience how it feels to reframe our beliefs by simply thinking differently about them. We begin feeling grateful for what we have and why we’re running around crazy.

Even family responsibilities can drive me nuts, but I smile when I think of everything I “get” to do. There was a time I was alone and dreamed of marrying the woman of my dreams. I remember wishing for a healthy child. Now that I have both, it’s easy to take them for granted.

If you’re guessing it’s because marriage and parenting are hard as hell, you’d be right. They can also be the most rewarding craziness you’ll ever get yourself into.

Keeping your blessings in mind makes getting through the tough times easier.

2. Search for the good

What are you looking for out of life? If you’re always expecting the worst, you might get it. Am I right? Why look for the bad in your everyday life when you can search for the good?

All it takes is intention. Choose to find more good than bad in your busy life or current situation.

You can see those four different projects you’re juggling at work as a chore or a good reason to show the company that you’re talented and capable. It might lead to a promotion or interesting work in the future.

One good aspect I like about being overwhelmed is it’s a learning process. Most likely, if you don’t give up, you come out on the other side with new skills or more knowledge about your limits.

You grow.

Knowing that feels good. In fact, growing as a person and giving of your talents is what life’s all about.

3. Is this necessary?

You’ve heard the phrase “Seek and ye shall find.” What if you’re seeking stress without realizing it. There could be a better way. Like, doing less or changing your schedule to give more time to breathe.

Asking yourself if the actions you take are necessary, you instantly begin thinking through why you’re doing it and if there are better strategies.

Keep in mind; there are boring tasks in just about any profession, long-term relationship, or creative field. You can minimize them by hiring someone to help, but you’ll still need to understand each facet of your business to succeed.

You should also like the business or relationship you’re in. I’m not talking about only what you create, teach, or sell. I mean what it represents.

Is this making you or the world better? If not, switch careers and enter the one that spreads more good and makes a positive difference.

It all comes down to the question, are you spending your time on things moving you forward or holding you back?

When you look at it from the lens of what actions directly benefit you, cutting out the unnecessary should get a lot easier. Stop doing what’s sucking your energy and give it to someone else. If you can’t do that, can you let it go?

Being inundated with chores and responsibilities is the way for most of our adult lives. It doesn’t have to feel laborious every second of the day.

Try looking at it differently at the moment and reframing your thinking.

Expect to get better. The more you can imagine yourself climbing a ladder to more success keeps you in a winning mindset.

And a smile on your face.

What Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone Really Takes

Here’s a hint, it’s not only courage.

Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash

I have a friend who always talks about making significant changes in his life but never does. He says he wants to change careers and move to another city, but he avoids taking steps to make the leap.

Why?

I know you’re thinking he’s just afraid of the unknown, but I believe it’s more than that.

After spending the past twenty years of my life moving around and even living overseas in Japan, I know what motivated me to step out of my comfort zone.

I wish I could say it was because I’m so brave, and “risk” is my middle name. That’s not true at all. I’m actually afraid of change and scared of the unknown.

What drives me forward — and what my friend could use more of–is curiosity.

One of my goals is to ignite this spirit of curiosity when teaching my students and get them to ask more questions. Good questions lead to knowing more, seeing more, and ultimately experiencing more than what you have inside your bubble of safety.

Here’s the thing — even though it feels nice and warm in that bubble, your determination to discover more and get those questions answered will shove your fears aside. You’ll have the confidence to burst out of your comfort zone.

Fears will still be there, just not barking at you as loud as they were. You’ll have a reason that propels you forward and gives you the confidence to face uncertainty.

Curiosity charges up your “why” with more power than your fears.

Not only in making life moves, but in establishing new relationships. Suppose you’re looking to meet new friends or start dating again after a tough breakup. In that case, it’s been proven curiosity can be the key to personal growth.

Their study concludes that the degree to which people are curious actively influences their personal growth opportunities and the level of intimacy that develops when they meet someone new.

-Patricia Donovan

Sometimes “What if?” Looking back on my life, what if I was never curious about Japanese culture and language? I would never have had the balls to move there to teach English.

My interest in the Japanese language was strong. Still, I’ve always been too shy to speak other languages easily in front of people.

As the only foreigner in my town, living in Japan forced me to learn Japanese and speak it often. I had to push past my fears and face the embarrassment of mispronouncing words in front of native speakers.

What if, when another American teacher of English invited me to hang out with her new Japanese girlfriends and mentioned, “They’re both single!” and If I had said, “No, thanks.”

I would never have met my wife.

I needed to follow the curiosity and interest in who her friends were. Of course, they might have been people I didn’t get along well with, and we could have had a terrible time together. It was a risk I will take because I was curious.

Curiosity leads me overseas and to meeting the woman of my dreams. Travel and relationships aren’t easy, but they’re an example of how your life can change if you are interested in the wider world.

What about my friend who’s afraid of making changes? I wouldn’t give him unsolicited advice, but here are the benefits of curiosity I would share if he ever asks.

When you live with an active sense of curiosity:

You will never get bored

Having an interest in many new things means learning and adjusting regularly. Yes, the positive side effect is never getting bored.

How could you when you constantly have new experiences and relationships to navigate and explore?

If you ever run out of interest, ask more questions.

You will learn to embrace discomfort

There’s always going to be discomfort in any decision or path you choose to take. If you say it’s too scary and do nothing, you’ll have to deal with the discomfort of not reaching your goals.

When you decide to go for it, there’s also discomfort, but for something you really want.

Choose the discomfort that gets you closer to your dreams.

If you want to move forward in life, you’d better become familiar with and embrace the fear.

You will approach life with an open mind as a learner and observer

Living with curiosity also means you will have an easier time remembering information and a more accessible time learning skills connected with your new pursuits. As you learn more, you have a deeper understanding of how things work and why people are the way they are. You grow.

This will help open your mind and create even more questions you want answers to down the line. Each part of what you do in business and life will take on new meaning.

Conclusion

Live with curiosity. It hurts me to have friends who are not interested in experiencing more of what life offers just because of their fear. When you’re aware of your comfort zone, know that you can choose to step out and do more.

All you have to do is to be curious and follow where your questions lead you.

One Habit a Day- To feel like you again

Facing this pandemic while working through the anger, fear, and pain associated with the murders of black people in America, as a black male myself, is exhausting. There are times I want to be alone to process it all, and times I want to dive deeper into my work to escape.

There’s so much to do. Work responsibilities aren’t stopping, and focus must be given to them, whether we want to or not. I also know there’s so much that could be done to help the country right now.

Speaking out against systemic racism and police brutality through writing and art. Leaving the house, mask on, to protest with the masses. I want to be everywhere all the time.

It’s overwhelming. Sometimes, I can’t even remember who I am anymore.

If you’re feeling like me, I think it’s an excellent time to let some expectations go and to simplify your days. You cannot accomplish what you could back before the world drove off a cliff.

Complete one habit in the morning for a quick win

Definition of habit

1 : a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior.

- Her habit of taking a morning walk

Will you wake up early to write for an hour? Make that your one habit of conquering in the mornings to ignite your fire. Perhaps, you enjoy going for a run because exercise helps to clear your mind. Schedule the time when you will get up and put everything in place to make sure you do it.

Write your morning plan the night before and leave it out where you can see it when you wake up. Take out your running gear so you can put it on right away and take off.

Picking one habit that you know you can complete in the morning will give you the confidence to face these challenges. The challenges we’re all emotionally wading through each day. Give yourself as much space as you can each day to just be with it all.

An excerpt from the book by Nicolas Cole and Dr. Matthew Jones, “Slow Down, Wake Up,” states:

“You’re not supposed to function every single second of every single day at 100%. Anyone who tells you otherwise, including yourself, needs greater self-compassion.”

One is enough

If your one morning habit was all you could bring yourself to complete today, let that be okay.

Pick one thing to accomplish professionally and personally each day, then celebrate it.

For the days when you’re feeling down, let completing that one habit fill you with pride. It shows you can accomplish something important to you. You might find that it gives you the energy to work on another one of your things.

The point is to keep your expectations low right now in these difficult times. Do only what you can but plan to do at least one crucial daily habit to move your life or career forward.

One thing a day, can become a habit, help you process heavy emotions, and lead to more professional wins in the future.