Routines to help with Mind Clutter
Have you noticed how Mental Clutter can destroy your day (and when its left unchecked it morphs into bigger problems)?
When you are 'in the zone' and your brain is clear - do you find that things fall into place, almost without trying. We are also more "aware" and notice things we might otherwise miss in tasks and in conversations.
Staying in the zone with that all too allusive 'quiet mind' takes practice and commitment. We need to really practice being self-aware so we don't let the mind clutter and worry take over and turn into panic and anxiety.
This week I've been working on some tips and worksheets that I want to be downloadable from my website. For some reason I thought this would nice and easy.... Well I was very wrong.
After a mixed up start to my day (where I didn't get my morning walk or do my yoga) I jumped straight on the computer wanting to get some writing done.
Before I realise it, I've got three research documents open, I'm Canva editing 4 tools, I'm writing an article on Overwhelm (that would be better as two articles and some tipsheets), I'm trying to work out where on my website these articles would go; and then I got completely lost trying to work out how to add these as downloads. Do I use Mailchimp, Hubspot or Convertkit? Talk about falling down the rabbit hole in Wonderland.
I stopped when I recognised the tight pain in my shoulders was uncomfortable, the heaviness in my gut was noticeable and my joy level was dropping. I needed to hit the PAUSE button before my jaw started clenching again.
Looking at my day - I can see that I set myself up to fail. I didn't have a [realistic] goal for today and I didn't follow my task list. I was jumping from shiny object to shiny object. I'm not even going to share how untidy my desk is right now. So - I didn't really give myself a chance to succeed today.
So HOW did I let this happen?
Well I'm heading away for a long weekend tomorrow and my perception is that I should be further along in my tasks this week. I was pushing myself to get more done than I realistically could.
My day would have turned out completely differently if I'd followed my morning mindful exercise routine, assessed all my jobs and prioritised and stayed self-aware - BEFORE I started work.
Can you relate to this?
Are you finding that when you try to 'DO ALL THE THINGS' your brain clutter takes over and then you notice your stress levels start to rise? Now sometimes our pressures are outside our control - they come from external demands. But there are ways you can exercise some control. You can decide to reduce your mental clutter to help you get into the zone.
First - check your routine (or create one if you don't have one) to keep the mind clutter at bay and help you stay in the 'flow zone'. There are some ideas in the image with this post.
Do you have a routine that helps you stay in the zone? What else do you do to stay on track?
#workstress #mindfulness #resilienceatwork #mentalclutter
