On the value of well-being in stressful times
2024-03-03
Against all plans, I have been really busy this week and had to overcome numerous unexpected obstacles. Especially in these times we tend to neglect our physical and psychological well-being in the hope of freeing some time to effectively work on the tasks at hand. However, not only my personal experience but also research has shown that this is exactly the wrong thing to do. So, let's have a quick look at what to actually do...
The number one rule in stressful times is to work less instead of more - no matter how absurd that may sound at first. But there is twist to it - focus your limited time on the work actually matters. So go through your tasks, select one (or at most two) priorities for the week that absolutely need to get done and delegate all others if possible or just abandon them alltogether. The goal is to have a single clear intention and at least for me it's the easiest to articulate it when zooming out of the day or week scope and focussing on what work I try to achieve over the course of months/years as well as why.
Another really powerful hack can be drastically clear you calendar, ideally to empty. Especially for someone like me how meticulously keeps it up-to-date and lives after it, this can be a real burden to do at first, but it's for a good cause and worth the emotional hassle. Since you already know your intention for the week at this point, there really isn't any need for additional planning and just having a clean canvas of time allows you to work in a much more flexible fashion than otherwise possible. The idea is to actively choose to do something at any given moment in time instead of having to do it, because your calendar, personal assistant or whatever tells you to. This greatly increases the personal involvement in the task and thus usually leads to better results in less time.
I also really want you to prioritize sleep, workout and nutrition , even at great cost. All of these might seem like unnecessary time-killers, but hold much more value than we might grasp at first glance and are always worth the investment of some precious time. Our brain needs 8 to 9 hours of sleep a day to properly process the input of the day, find and arrange structures within it and subconsciously come up with solutions we wouldn't even have evaluated actively. This is especially true when you are in new situations, have to learn a lot of things simultaneous or manage very different aspects of a project - so think about your current situation and adapt accordingly. Even though workout and nutrition are only really associated with physical well-being in our everyday life (and just this aspect alone should be enough to really, really car about them), they also hold immense value for the psychological side of things. Without the right macro and micro nutrients most of us feel energyless, have trouble to properly concentrate and are easily exhausted - all aspects we can't tolerate during times where even excellence is barely sufficient. And regularly excerising not only helps to keep your body young and functional, but also releases a not insignificant amount of dopamine and other mood-enhancing neurotransmitters - which is a welcome side-effect.
Last but certainly not least, you should also make sure to treat yourself to something nice after finishing a meaningful part of what you are working on. This keeps you motivated and also just makes life a little bit nicer. Whether you are spending some time with friends, call a neglected family member or just eat something really special doesn't really matter. It's just important that it makes you feel good and is a way of spending your limited time on earth worth remembering.
What I wat to say with all of this is that you really shouldn't be to hard to yourself when work, school or just everyday life becomes uncommonly complex, not to say stressful. Try to keep your existing meaningful routines up, just get rid of what doesn't matter at the moment and remember to enjoy life. Feel free to share and comment down below and have a good one...