Escaping the Busy Trap
Without Focus, being overwhelmed results in burnout, a condition where the individual feels mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. Burnout occurs when one feels overwhelmed and unable to keep up with everyday demands. As a result, chaos, such as disorganization and a lack of clarity, is also a factor in the equation, and the missing element is the Focus, the ability to concentrate on the most important tasks.
Being persistently overwhelmed can easily cause you to lose interest and motivation and bring on a state that leaves you feeling powerless, helpless, and excessively worn out. Once again, you may do much more than is realistic. Suddenly, you are a victim.
When discussing burnout, it’s important to remember that you’re not feeling just exhaustion. Burnout is a pervasive force that affects every aspect of your life. Work becomes unbearable, and you lose interest in almost everything. The fun stops being fun, and everything starts bothering you. But there’s a silver lining—the relief that comes from identifying these triggers can be incredibly empowering.
In a state of burnout, this feeling does not go away but sticks around regularly. Staying in this forlorn condition will likely make you believe there is no alternative to getting out of this mess.
So, how do you escape this rut? The answer lies in Focus, the key to overcoming burnout and regaining control of your life. The beacon of hope can guide you out of the overwhelming darkness.
Remember what being focused taught you in the previous article? When you feel overwhelmed, the WHAT, WHY, and WHEN formula will be convenient. This formula involves identifying the most important tasks (WHAT), understanding why they are important (WHY), and determining when they need to be completed (WHEN). By focusing on these key aspects, you can start to untangle the web of feeling overwhelmed.
Unraveling burnout
However, the problem with feeling overwhelmed is that identifying burnout alone is not always possible. This is why seeking help from friends, family, and others you trust is crucial. Their support can not only give you an outside opinion but also provide reassurance in your journey to recovery.
Focus on undoing the effects of burnout.
Once you have identified the trigger for your woes, be prepared to make profound changes. This task requires sustained Focus and commitment to making significant changes. The bright side to this entire episode is that once you start making the shift, you should also begin to feel more motivated again.
A good place to start is by focusing and working on some of the following:
• Cut off the source of the burnout — Avoid the trigger that causes you to feel overwhelmed. Job-related burnouts often result from working too many hours and having too little personal time. To address this, consider setting boundaries on your work hours, taking regular breaks, and prioritizing self-care activities.
• Try to be healthy — Being overwhelmed can easily take a toll on health, so engage in some form of physical activity to give yourself a break. While taking a break may sound counterintuitive to focus, the idea is to shift the Focus from the cause of the burnout and redirect it to taking care of yourself instead.
• Eat well- Focus on taking care of yourself by eating a little better than before. Chances are that you are burnt out and have neglected your diet. After all, the first thing most people reach for when overwhelmed is an abundance of junk and convenience foods. Chuck these out and refocus on what will make you feel better inside and out.
• Improve sleep — Burnout can result in prolonged fatigue. A simple coping mechanism for this issue is to focus on getting good quality and quantity of sleep.
When you want to escape this despondent state, remember that Focus is the one thing holding everything together. This ability to concentrate on your well-being will allow you to remove all the negativity from your life.
The impact of being overwhelmed
While you are in an internal state of being unfocused, things can go wrong in the external world. Personal turbulence aside, the world keeps moving at its pace, continuing to bombard you with the daily grind, moving at a breakneck speed. Staying focused becomes complex, with decisions and information constantly piling up. And while you may not be able to detect yourself, certain red flags can identify the most common habits of unfocused people:
• They don’t plan
It isn’t easy to stay focused without a plan to execute. Unfocused individuals tend to work by whim rather than by strategy. They seem to get into things that they “think” might be important without knowing why. On the contrary, people who focus on their goals have a strategy to execute and move progressively through their agenda rather than randomly.
• They lose track of time
If you run short of time on most tasks, you probably do not focus on good time management. You may be getting too deep into things that are not required and end up spending too much time on one specific task that, with Focus and planning, could have been allotted to multiple tasks instead.
• They run late
Poor time management is closely related to the susceptibility to always running late. Unfocused people tend to mismanage time and exhibit unrealistic ideas about time.
For instance, a common tendency is to have an unclear idea about how long it takes to get to places. Miscalculating distances or neglecting outside factors affecting travel times become the norm for such people.
Another common scenario of being unfocused is when someone takes on a new project without finishing a previous one. The result is chaos, as not many projects get done, and the individual is left scampering to finish up while running behind on various tasks.
• They get easily distracted
People without Focus are the easiest targets for distractions. Distractions are everywhere; some are obvious, others not so much, but they do get in the way of getting things done.
If you are not focused, there is a time lag every time you switch or shift from one activity to the next. For unfocused folks, this void can quickly be filled by sneaky distractions like getting on their cell phone, playing Candy Crush, and even a simple conversation, enough to take them far away from their assigned task. Does that sound like something that happens to you a lot? If so, you need to work on your Focus.
• They are messy, unorganized, and possibly even flaky
Being out of Focus leaves its mark on the organizational skills of any person. Such people tend to be surrounded by clutter, unable to find what they seek, and suffer gravely regarding productivity. However, some intelligent, productive people thrive in what others consider a mess. Hence, it comes down to motivation.
Often, stressed-out, messy people cannot follow through on promises, tend to skip out on appointments, and are quite prone to cancel at the last minute.
Many unfocused people have difficulty committing and appear flaky when they fail to follow through. This not only harms their efforts but can be disastrous for their reputation.
• They worry about everything
If you worry too much or get agitated over every small thing, you need to redirect your Focus and channel it to the critical things. Learn to distinguish the substantial from the insubstantial and then focus on that alone.
Conclusion,
Enhancing your comprehension of the What, Why, and When formula significantly contributes to mitigating burnout; however, additional efforts are necessary. This is not a destination but rather part of a journey that will last a lifetime.
