I don’t know when this happened to me or when I recognized it, but here it is.
I don’t always manage my time well.
I thought I did.
In fact, I have always prided myself on how hard I work, how many hours I put in, how long I can “run on empty”.
In fact, as a working mom, I would say most of us wear our exhaustion like a badge of honor.
I did feel like it was a badge of honor to see how much I could push myself, how much I could sacrifice.
(No one is handing out any awards for this, by the way).
I remember one particularly exhausting day not too long ago, I snapped at my husband who definitely did not see it coming.
He and I had both worked the same hours that day. The difference was that after work, I was keeping a mental tally of all the things I was doing on top of our work day.
The tally marks were just ticking away in my brain and I was getting more and more resentful.
At some point in the evening, he asked me to do something for him (probably very innocently and it likely wasn’t a big deal) and I snapped. (I hate to admit this, but I may or may not have thrown some dirty socks at him I had just picked up off the floor).
After days of stewing on how “right” I was and how “wrong” he was, I spoke to my sister who asked me a very simple question.
Why are you doing all of those things? Why don’t you just stop doing them?
I laughed…or scoffed…or snorted or something to show how absurd that was, but I did start thinking about it while lying in bed that night.
What would happen if I no longer worked 12+ hours per day. What would happen if I delegated some things off my plate at work to my partner or assistant? What would happen if I recognized the fact that when I leave work every day there will still ALWAYS be work to do the next day? What if I set boundaries each day and worked as hard as I could during those times, but then stepped away? Would the world fall apart? Probably not.
If you recognize yourself in these words, then you know the drill…
We hustle for more.
We work long hours and strive to get more and more and more completed in a day.
When faced with more projects, we tell ourselves we just need to learn to be more efficient, to figure out how to get it all done faster.
We rarely say no to requests and feel like the only way to have it all is to keep working more, producing more, taking on MORE.
We might feel like we are burning the candle at both ends sometimes, but are willing to do so, because eventually there will be the big payday, right?
Maybe we miss a meal or two each day, sacrifice a few hours of sleep, check emails while at kid games, but…we KNOW we can get it all done!
I am ready to admit that isn’t sustainable. It isn’t even conducive to growth. It isn’t effective time management.
Time for a change. I am sharing the #1 resource I am using right now to change this up in my own life and hope you find it helpful as well.
Michael Hyatt is my business coach and has been preaching about the DOUBLE WIN for years. For the first year of my coaching with him, it fell on deaf ears. I was too focused on implementing EVERYTHING and growing, growing, growing, to realize I was working without any boundaries.
His newest book is called Win at Work and Succeed at Life, which I have previewed and is available for pre- order on Amazon. The title says it all. The content tells us HOW to do it.
He has other resources of course on this topic, but this book is the most succinct, valuable info I can provide to my fellow workaholics that are on the verge of burnout.
Set boundaries for yourself.
Decide to make a change.
Keep yourself sharp and valuable in all areas of your life.
Don’t throw things at your spouse.