Too Much on Her Plate

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Stressed and Overwhelmed? A Simple Way to Start Feeling More Effective

When you’re tired, stressed, or overwhelmed, everything can be impacted. You’re not likely to sleep as well, you’re more likely to overeat or resort to emotional eating, and it’s easy to get lost in a negative spiral of focusing on all that’s undone, what you can’t do, and the limitations to your time, energy, and resources. It can be a recipe for feeling pretty miserable.

When life feels overwhelming it’s helpful to guard your energy and to maximize your effectiveness. One of the most powerful places to start is with your mindset or attitude.

Not only does your mindset—the way you are viewing the world—affect your mood and your attitude, we tend to see and focus on the things that we are looking for. If I am stuck in a negative, overwhelmed space, I’m preparing myself to notice the situations and examples in my life that fit within that mindset. Because my mind is looking for examples that support my view of the world, it’s going to be very difficult to break free from a vicious cycle of too-much-to-do.

Simple, routine practices work wonders and can help your brain start looking in new directions—even if you can’t change the number of items on your calendar. Recently I’ve been experimenting with this practice, designed by positive psychologist Martin Seligman. It’s ridiculously simple and pretty addictive.

Start collecting three things that went well. That’s all there is to it. Every day, notice and list to yourself three things (they can be as simple as getting a great parking space) that went well. If you’re having a truly rotten day, you might have a hard time at first, but as you try out this practice, you can almost feel your brain doing a U-turn. Everyone I know who has tried it tells me they start noticing differently. They appreciate the small positives and take notice of them more. They start collecting “good things” to add to their list. Try out the exercise. It’s likely to boost your mood, improve your attitude, and have a positive impact on how you experience your day.

Take good care