I feel therefore I am

Multitasking
If you think you’re too busy to read this article, then perhaps you should take time out to do it anyway! Recently I have been far too busy. Typically working on far to many things at the same time, with a million others on my mind. Even in my sleep I am on a trip, giving a talk or simply meeting deadlines.

On a Mission
Projects and tasks were blurring into one another. I was simply too busy to even write a ‘to do list’. I conned myself into thinking I could remember everything. One thing was for sure; I had a mission: To get things done, no matter the price. One day a close friends pointed out the risk of expiring as a result of work overload.

Burnout
I did remember reading about ‘burnout’. People driven by ‘Getting There First’ thinking it is ‘now or never’. Often far too little sleep to avoid wasting any time, this so-called fast-track lifestyle led to an untimely death for some. I recalled some of the symptoms:

•    A compulsion to prove oneself by working harder
•    Fatigue and run down - neglecting one's own needs
•    Anger at those making demands
•    Cynicism, negativity, and irritability

Take your Time
When thinking of time as a given we perhaps exactly therefore manage it so badly. ‘Hurry Slowly’ is the key and I decided to make my own list:

Personal
Take time out to think
Listen rather than talk - breathe
Take a relaxed bath instead of a hurried shower
Meditate or have a massage regularly
Don’t feel responsible for things outside your control

Family
•    Make a to do list, then cut it by 50%
•    Tidy up and give things away you don’t need
•    Don’t procrastinate, get unpleasant tasks done first
•    Don’t plan everything, be spontaneous
•    Sit down and eat your breakfast
Friends
•    Meet one to one at times
•    Throw a party and order food in
•    Don’t do things you don’t like
•    Say no once in a while
•    Leave a party if you are bored

Work
Love your job or find another
Only do one thing at a time
Always take a lunch break
Turn off your mobile phone from time to time
Work late if necessary, but don’t take your work home

Food
Buy in bulk online
Top up with fresh quality food locally
Cook a nice dish, make some extra for the freezer
Don’t eat on the go
Chew your food properly before swallowing

My Future Mantra
It used to be: ‘I think and therefore I am’, then it was ‘I shop and therefore I am’, and then it was ‘I work and therefore I am’. Recently ‘I feel and therefore I am’ has become my new mantra. I know that one should never be too busy to simply BE.


Anne Lise Kjaer March 7, 2009