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The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Too Many Balls In the Air

Posted by Laura
November 2, 2007

Juggling by Jayniebell
Photo by Jayniebell

Stress doesn’t always come from huge events in our lives. It can be caused in little amounts by small events, and build up to the point where it has the same impact as a major catastrophe. Over the next few Fridays, I’m going to examine some of the causes of daily stress and give some suggestions on what can be done to alleviate them.

Doing Too Much At Once

Everyone seems to have a lot on their plates. After catching up with someone, she commented to me, “You have had a lot on your plate.” But I pointed out, “I always do. My plate is never empty.” The question becomes having stuff on your plate, and being buried under the avalanche of things that slip off the plate. Or having everything on your plate on fire.

The truth is we will never have the luxury of only having one thing to do, and being able to do it. It calls to mind the Robert Fulghum’s story about polishing the stick, found in All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (aff). He wants to have a job where all he has to do is polish a stick. Everything else will be taken care of. And when he is done, he will be praised.

But that’s not reality. We have responsibilities and things to do.

Pruning What You Are Paying Attention To

The question becomes, if we are doing too much, how much is really necessary? Do we really need to wash the antique tea set this week, just because it hasn’t been done in a while? Or can we put that aside and focus on what really needs to be done.

To unload how much you are doing, you need to examine your to do list. Look at each item and ask two questions: does it have to be done by me? and does it have to be done right now/today/this week? I am not advocating wholesale abandonment of responsibilities or outright procrastination, but the truth is we only have so many hours in the day. We need to be realistic about what we can accomplish.

If you honestly think you can’t cut back on what you are paying attention to, then you need to consider your activity and commitment load. More on that in two weeks. Next week we’ll look at Multitasking.

Stress

Related Posts:

  • The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Places
  • The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Controlling
  • The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Dealing with Pace
  • The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Multitasking
  • The Secrets of Eliminating Daily Stress: Perfectionism

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