(The following is excerpted from my monthly ezine. If you would like to subscribe, please go to my website, scroll to the bottom any page and provide your email. You will be asked to confirm your subscription prior to your first message.)
Greetings from Envision Your Dreams Ezine! August is here which means the seemingly endless days of summer will soon cease. I hope your summer thus far has been relaxing and you have been able to get away to enjoy some chill time in your favorite summer spot. Soon my family and I will begin our cross-country trek back to Texas. This month often presents a challenge for me to stay present and mindful of the moment and not get caught up in "energy drains" of mental to-do list preparation as the departure date edges closer and my thoughts begin to focus on all that awaits me back in San Antonio. Perhaps you, too, experience difficulty in staying present and keeping your energy high each day. In this month's issue I offer you tips on how to map out how you currently spend your energy and determine if you are providing yourself adequate recharge time.
As always, send me your comments as well as any ideas of suggestions you may have for upcoming issues. I welcome your feedback--enjoy the read. One of the best compliments you can pay me is to pass this newsletter on to others who you feel could benefit. Thanks again for your continued support!
Sometimes I think if there was ever there was a reality show focused on the ability to multi-task, I could be a "contendah". Often by noon, I have completed a myriad of tasks: exercised, walked or ran the dogs, put in a load of laundry, checked my email and voicemail between unloading the dishwasher, taken my daughter to school or work depending on the day, met with several clients... Some mornings I am happy with all I have accomplished, while other mornings I feel like a worn out hamster struggling to keep from careening head-first, off the creaky, spinning wheel. In the late 1990s and early 2000, marketers proclaimed the possibilities of multitasking through the use of new technology. With advances in handheld devices, many of us fall prey to the siren buzz of their "Crackberry" or other portable communication device. I, too, have been guilty of catching up on the latest scoop with my sister-in-law while driving to my office with my hands-free cell phone.
While many of us try to do at least two activities at once, the latest research has suggested that multi-taskers are actually less efficient. Because their attention is divided, multi-taskers make more mistakes and take longer to complete the tasks they are engaged in. In reality it is impossible to pay equal attention to more than one task at a time (perhaps anything more complex than walking and chewing gum simultaneously). What occurs when multi-tasking is that one's attention alternates between the tasks and to fully engage in one task after alternating back and forth, requires "start up" time, thus cutting down on the multi-tasker's perceived efficiency. Additionally, researchers at UCLA found that multi-tasking affects the brain's learning ability. Bottom line is that we do not learn well when we are distracted and we are distracted when we multi-task. We may be able to learn new information; however, we may experience difficulty retrieving the information. Additionally, we all have experienced the bone-tired exhaustion that comes when our brains and bodies are overtaxed.
Many of the clients I work with feel stretched and strained by the demands of their workplace or family responsibilities. One client reports feeling "sucked dry" by the unreasonable performance expectations placed on him by his supervisor. Another young woman describes how she has lost the motivation and excitement she once felt when she first began her career a few years ago and she has begun to second-guess her choice of college major. Another client struggles with caring for her physically fragile parent while meeting the demands of her young children.
While it may be true that we cannot control all things in our workplace or home environment, what we can do is learn more adaptive ways to manage the stressors we face each day. When we become mindful and aware of how we react and respond to stress, we begin to take better care of our mental and physical health. When we become aware of how we spend our time, we can then make conscious choices about how to energize or recharge ourselves before we become depleted. The exercise I offer you I found in this month's Health Magazine. It is a simple and quick way for you to identify where you spend the bulk of your energy and raise your awareness as to how you can take better care of yourself when faced with stressors. Here's how:
1) Draw 4 circles on a piece of paper and label each circle one of the following:
Emotional, Mental, Physical, and Spiritual. Draw an "equator line" across the center of each circle.
2) In the top half of the circle labeled "Emotional" list how you spend your energy on emotional issues. Here you might list worries, concerns, feelings of loss, etc.
3) In the bottom half of the circle labeled "Emotional" list how you recover from the expenditure of these emotions. For example, perhaps you nap, exercise or eat.
4) Complete each of the four circles recording how you spend your energy in each of the areas of life. The results will offer you a clear picture of where and how you spend your emotional and physical energy. You might discover that you are placing energy on things that are not important to you or that you need to provide yourself more time or opportunity to recover from the energy expenditure so you are not running on empty by the end of the day. Have you implemented healthy strategies for recovering from your biggest energy drains? By looking at these four areas in your life you may discover ways to help yourself boost your energy (without having to consume a pot of coffee mid-afternoon!).
"There is more to life than increasing its speed."
--Gandhi
