Cultivating a Less Busy Life and Mindset - Part 1

Cultivating a less busy life and mindset can seem like no easy feat in our productivity obsessed culture and with all of the external pressures and expectations we face or perceive.

Doing so requires that you start adding intentionality where none has existed before. In a life that is already jam-packed with all the things. In an environment that doesn’t often encourage or reward it.

The key is to start small. Try this when your life is feeling too busy:

▫️Pause ▫️

When we have a lot on our plate, our tendency is to go, go, go without pause. If you don’t stop to analyze your busyness problem, you inevitably just stay busy.

▫️Create Awareness ▫️

Acknowledge how you are feeling.

Say to yourself: “I notice I am feeling [overwhelmed, anxious, exhausted].” 

But remember you don’t actually “feel” busy. Or underwater. Or slammed. Or behind.

Busy isn’t an emotion. Neither are the others.

They are our characterization about a set of circumstances. How much is on our calendar or to do list. 

It’s that characterization that is creating the negative emotion you’re feeling. And that negative emotion is your brain’s (not particularly accurate) alarm system. And it will keep sounding the alarm if you don’t acknowledge it.  

▫️Cultivate the 3 Cs: Compassion, Calm, and Curiosity ▫️

Then ask yourself: How can I create compassion for myself in this moment? Calm? Curiosity?

Or use my shorthand: What would be most helpful to me right now? How can I give that to myself?

The answer is going to look different at different times. It may be that you need to ask for help or delegate. Or cancel some things or push deadlines back. It may be that you just need to sit down and come up with a good plan. Or just to remind yourself that you do actually have time to get it all done. It may be that you just need to acknowledge that things are tough right now. 

Why compassion? 

The first thing I see women do when they are overwhelmed by what’s on their plate is start to criticize themselves. For not being able to handle things. Being bad at time management. Adding shame on top of the overwhelm. There’s no need for it, and it only makes things worse. 

Why calm? 

It’s hard to come up with a good solution when our emotions are really heightened. 

Why curiosity? 

When we are feeling overwhelmed, we tend to create more overwhelm for ourselves by spinning in the overwhelm. Overwhelm thrives on you not doing anything differently. Curiosity is an antidote to that paralysis. 

Ring the 🔔 in my profile to hear more this week about cultivating a less busy life and mindset.

A ❤️ note to you: Want help becoming less busy? Feeling less stressed and overwhelmed? I can help. I love working with women to help them create a life that feels good to them. Send me a DM or sign up for a free call with me at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult, and I’ll tell you how we do that.