Those of us fortunate enough to have jobs that have been largely unimpacted by Covid-19 – other than a switch to home office – have found that many new challenges have arisen.
On top of already heavy workloads, many employees have been required to pivot, introducing new, or additional activities to adapt to the ‘new normal’, or open new revenue streams.
This combination of adapting to change in already difficult circumstances, additional projects and new targets – on top of the blurring of the boundaries between work and home life – have left most of us feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to look after ourselves and our loved ones adequately on top of work demands.
‘Busy-ness’ was already the scourge of modern life – but this year it has taken over our homes, spare rooms and dining tables too.
So in this week’s Power Up I wanted to investigate this phenomena further and provide some potential solutions to help us get back on top of our schedules, make us aware of the mental biases that somehow work against us and add to our overwhelm, and provide some impetus for change by looking at the negative affects of stress on our bodies.
Here’s the line-up:
- 7 Cognitive Biases that make us bad at time management
- The difference between worry, stress & anxiety
- How stress affects your body (video)
- Which of these 6 time traps is eating up all your time?
- How to use a “No” template to make it easier to say no
- Shifting evolutionary fear to courage and creativity (podcast)
- Daily habits of great minds: Lessons from Nietzsche, Kant, Tesla, Darwin, Einstein & Hemingway
Plus lots more besides.
As always, I hope you find something that helps – and if you do, please share this email with your friends.
Enjoy!
M I N D
7 Cognitive Biases that make us bad at time management
Our brains are hardwired to sabotage our productivity, but can we do anything about it?
This article looks at the seven cognitive biases that have the biggest impact on how we spend our time, prioritise our tasks, and achieve (or fall short of) our goals – providing concrete strategies to deal with each of them.
M I N D
The difference between worry, stress & anxiety
Most people experience worry, stress or anxiety at least once a day. And although similar and often linked, the three are in fact different physiological responses with both negative and positive connotations.
Here, the New York Times outlines how to identify – and cope with – all three.
B O D Y
How stress affects your body
Our body’s hard-wired stress response is designed to gives us a quick burst of heightened alertness and energy that helps us to perform our best.
But when activated too long or too often, stress can damage virtually every part of our body.
This short video details what goes on inside our body when we are chronically stressed.
S P I R I T
Which of these 6 time traps is eating up all your time?
We all live with the permanent feeling of too many things to do and not enough time to do them.
‘Time poverty’ affects all cultures and crosses all economic strata. The first step to becoming time smart is to identify the time traps in your life.
This article and video outlines 7 common ‘time traps’ and what we can do about them.
C O N S C I O U S L I V I N G
How to use a “No” template to make it easier to say No
People have every right to ask us for things and we have every right to decline them. But that can be easier said than done, for a whole host of reasons.
We don’t like to let people down, and helping others makes us feel good, but it often comes at the expense of our own priorities.
In this short piece, Josh Spector presents the idea of using a ‘No Template’ to make protecting our time a whole lot easier.
O N T H E P O D C A S T
#003: Shifting evolutionary fear to courage and creativity, with Harry de Bont
O N T H E B L O G
6 shocking lessons I learned from a week of mindful time keeping
B O N U S
C O N T E N T
Daily habits of great minds: Lessons from Nietzsche, Kant, Tesla, Darwin, Einstein & Hemingway
Why time management won’t solve your time problems and 9 things that actually will
How busyness leads to bad decisions
The art of stillness
“Of all ridiculous things the most ridiculous seems to me, to be busy — to be a man who is brisk about his food and his work…
SØREN KIERKEGAARD
“What, I wonder, do all these busy folks get done?”
