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.
