The fear of falling behind means you are not being the boss of your time

I was listening to a GTD (Getting Things Done by David Allen) podcast on my morning walk this morning, and he was talking to Professor Daniel Levitin, the author of The Organised Mind and professor of psychology, a cognitive scientist, musician and entrepreneur and it was all about how to be the boss of your time.

He talked about the fear of falling behind and I just went – ding!
YES. This is so true.
We work harder and harder and do more and more and more so that we can catch up, BUT the to do list will never be done.

Time is traditionally spent time based on what has to be done with little regard for how much time there is because of this fear of falling behind.

This is a direct way to feel stressed, rushed and overwhelmed!

This needs to be flipped on it’s head – you need to know how much time you have available and take control of it.

Otherwise the stress levels rise, there’s more rushing, we try and squeeze too much in, and end up feeling overwhelmed 90 % of the time.

Life doesn’t stop, business doesn’t stop, but unless you flip this fear on it’s head and take control of time, the rush and stress will never stop.

Hello burnout.

Turning it around and being the boss of your time gives you permission to:

• say no to things you don’t have time for
• focus on one thing at a time
• have better balance in your life
• slow down
• do what is best for you and not spread yourself too thin

Here’s 3 quick ways to turn it around and be the boss of your time:

1. Make space in your head by writing things down, doing a brain dump
   Even Professor Levitin says that the process of clearing space is essential.Here’s why:
   – your short term memory can only remember 3-4 things at once, so your brain actually spends all of it’s energy trying to remember things – instead of thinking, creating, experiencing.If you write it down externally, you create space in your brain.Evernote is the perfect place for this – a one stop shop to keep all of the different bits of information, easily accessible and organised.
   (BTW: Want to know how to use Evernote? I’m running an online Evernote workshop is on 24th November. You can spend 90 minutes learning a new program and how to set it up and make life easier – or you can continue to feel overwhelmed and cluttered inside ?)

   

2. Use the Pomodoro Technique.
   Yes – Professor Levitin likes this one too. He says our brains are NOT designed to be working ALL of the time. They need to be recharged.Working with focus for 45-60 minutes and then taking 5-10 minutes off with fresh air, music, quiet time for your mind to wander and recharge is SO much more effective longer term than pushing through the day and getting distracted because you’re exhausted.You are actually MORE productive and focused using this suggestion.
3. Plan your dayHe also cites decision fatigue as a real thing, so making decisions about what you need to get done, prioritising it and planning it early on will be more effective than trying to decide what to do next at 3pm.Hello snack time with Facebook! (ie – a totally mindless distraction!)

So if you are afraid of falling behind and feel like you’re constantly chasing your tail, STOP!

It’s time to take control of your time. Be the boss of your time.
The #nomoreburnout Scheduling System is designed to help you do exactly this. Yes – it was meant to be that I listened to that podcast this morning. Love synergy for inspiration!

You’ll get instant clarity on how much time you have and how much you can fit in. There WILL be things you can’t fit in, and you’ll have to make decisions about what to do about that.
I can help you with that – it’s what I do best, but you need to stop this cycle of trying to catch up forever, because you never will. Something has to change, and you need to start being the boss of your time.

Visit the #nomoreburnout Systems School for more information about both of these programs. I’d love to see you there xx