Getting Back on Track Without Stressing Yourself Out

Guest VIP Digest Author:

Tracy Kelly, President, Kelly Mortgage, Mortgage Girlfriend VIP Member & Advisory Board Member. Tracy’s company is considered one of the fastest-growing, female-owned broker companies in California and surrounding states. [email protected]

I love the beginning of the year.

It’s a fresh start, with new opportunities on the horizon, a chance to look at the prior year and take stock of where you could have done better and praise yourself for what you did well. It’s also a chance to count your blessings.

Someone stole my wallet, which had Christmas money in it, a few gifts cards that I had gotten for Christmas, etc., not to mention the inconvenience of having to stand in line at the DMV for 6 hours on New Year’s Eve. Yes, this all sucked, but I figured that the person who stole from me needed the money more than I did. I had to stop and ask myself for three things that I was thankful for. Did this help? Not really, I was still upset about my wallet and its contents. But then I started thinking about all the amazing things I have in my life and all the new adventures that 2019 has in store for me.

I put together a few ideas that I hope will get you through those “brain fart” days.

Get Your To-Dos in Order

The first thing you want to do is get organized. I love making lists, not so many that I get caught in in just doing that, but so that I can get my brain straight and prioritize. Making a list is easy and will help you feel motivated to get more done.

Grab a pencil and a piece of paper and list all your to-dos for this month. There’s no need to create some fancy organization system, just take notes of the things you want to get done. Then, number them by importance.

Now, decide how you want to spend today—start small, don’t stress yourself out by trying to complete your entire list in one shot. Do a few tasks at a time and cross them off your list. This will help you feel a sense of accomplishment. Now, for those pesky things that are sitting around your home making you crazy. I have a golden rule that I try to live by. I pick ten up things every day, no more and no less (doing laundry, etc. only counts as one thing). I find that it’s easy to manage and there are times when I may only have four things to put away.

Triage Your Inbox

If you have ignored your inbox, you probably have a lot to go through. Today is not the day to get through all of them, you will only stress yourself out trying.

Instead, you’re going to want to create three email labels that are named:

Needs an answer today
Needs an answer this week
Probably delete-able.

Once this is done, filter all these emails into these three folders. Now, focus on that first folder today (and save that last folder for Friday when you’re done with work for the week).

Give Yourself Breathing Room

It’s Monday!

Never, never try to focus for 9 hours on that day.

Find the time to get up from your desk and take a few deep breaths. Eat lunch. Exercise for five minutes.

The easier you make today, the easier the rest of the week will be, and it will set the tone for the remainder of the week.