I was 8 years old and I LOVED sugar. My step mother must have gotten tired of me asking for treats all the time. "Tell you what. You can have the whole grasshopper pie," she said one morning. What the what? She set the pie in front of me and gave me a fork. I kept waiting for her to take it away from me as I ate it. I almost ate the whole thing. I got up from the table with a big smile on my face. Soon after I got a bad feeling. Grasshopper pie is made of cream, jello and oreo cookie crust. Lots of sugar. Too much sugar for an 8 year old. The next 12 hours were quite uncomfortable. And I have never had another bite of grasshopper pie. Thanks mom! :)
Think of a drink or food you have overindulged in. Or the holiday where there was so much food available that you overdid it. Most of us don't live a life of constant abundance. When confronted with an excess of something, we tend to over do it. Why is that?
Do you feel behind in your work? Do you feel overwhelmed by your emails? Are there people you haven't returned a phone message to and it's been weeks? Who set it up this way? We cannot catch up. And we certainly can't get ahead. As my step mother said when she retired, "I'm busier now than when I had a job!"
Are we doomed to overwhelm and the busyness that goes with it? Are we going to keep procrastinating to have some sense of control, even though we don't do our best work when we cram?
There is a new level of emotional intelligence needed to plan and work towards a goal in an efficient and effective way. You need to manage your inner dialogue, as well as the expectations of others. I like the book 'Emotional Intelligence 2.0' by Greaves. For most people, their work is like me with the grasshopper pie. If one bite it good, two is better. If one piece is good, two is better. And before you know it you've done too much AND not enough and you're not feeling great. Again.
I have a new coaching client who has gone from corporate executive to partnering in his wife’s successful small (and scalable) business. His first week in the new partnership vaporized his fantasy of working in a new way, taking care of himself and spending time with his kids. He was working at exactly the same pace and overwhelm as his corporate job. So what happened? He got freedom. He had a choice. He set the expectations. He was his own boss...
The context you have around time, money and work creates the paradigm you operate inside of each day at work.
The context you have around time, money and work creates the paradigm you operate inside of each day at work. You have read books. You have done workshops. You talk to colleagues about your challenges. But until you address the foundation of your beliefs, nothing can change. No amount of money, fame or power will stop you. "I will slow down when I get successful." I call B.S. I've heard it a lot and never seen it in all my thirty years of coaching. Money just makes you more of what you already are.
Whatever 'strategy' you are currently using to get work done that is not fun, satisfying or powerful is likely bankrupt. You probably would do best to scrap it and make a weekly work plan that was ideal and then practice the new beliefs, values, tactics and ideas that can lead to this new way of working. If the old way is not working, consider it may never work and you need to make some fundamental changes and then practice. Daily. It will take some months if not years to recreate your work so you are effective and efficient each day. But look at the alternative! I've attached some material to support you in making these changes. Thanks for considering them. It is possible to do work you are satisfied with on a daily basis. I practice this and teach others to do the same. Go for it! :)