In today’s episode, I share current feelings of being “in the weeds”, how I got there, and the strategies I am currently employing to climb out.
Since it’s been a week since I recorded this episode, I will share that the two things that have helped me greatly since hitting “record” are:
- Inbox(es) cleanout — as always, the uncertainty of what is lurking was more stressful than what was actually in there . . .
- Monthly planning — adding a “work plan” to my monthly planning ritual. For this, I used a monthly view calendar and mapped out all of my non-clinical work onto the available days. I identified my main business-related goals and tasks for the month, and was able to assign pretty much all of the ‘essential’ work to regular weekday work blocks. I feel so much better just having this blueprint!!
Additional Notes:
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11 Comments
I’m not sure how to express this but I hope you understand you are managing more than enough and you are doing an amazing job doing it. When you mentioned you “should” be having downtime from removing running from your routine, my immediate reaction was, “go easy on yourself!”. You have not gained 8-10 hours when you’re replacing that with 4-5 hours of strength, yoga, etc and 2-4 hours of appointments. You have a business, a very big job, a family, and health circumstances. That is a lot. Anyone who walks away from this episode questioning your methods probably has some other things in their lives to address beyond planning. I just hope you don’t feel like you have to justify your expertise, coming from someone who cares WAY too much of what others think of her. From what I’ve gathered listening to you for years, you seem to be a very humble person so I don’t believe you’re coming across as a victim, nor were you fishing for validation, but just know you have many supporters who are inspired by your productivity. Also, thank you for the many great tips in this episode. I feel like I’ve been in the weeds for a year for various reasons and very recently started to have some sparks of motivation. This couldn’t have come at a better time.
I agree with Michelle said! Also you have never sounded “woe is me” and like you are complaining. If anything, I feel like you’ve underappreciated that major life change you are going through. You’ve (for now) lost a major part of your identity that you loved… That would impact anyone and everyone, IMO.
This was a helpful episode that I will be saving for future. I have a hard time in winter and with T traveling I often feel “in the weeds”. I will relisten and take notes for myself. Feel better, Sarah, thank you for the work you do.
thanks so much for another candid episode – have been loving these lately and absolutely echo the comments above. one things i’ve been curious about for a while but especially having listened to this – is the inbox zero approach, it sounds exhausting. would you ever consider taking more of a prioritisation approach and looking at the most important stuff rather than going chronologiclaly or aiming for zero? would love to hear your thoughts – at such a busy time it feels like a set of hoops to jump through and even a distraction rather than the quickest way to achieve the outcome of getting ontop of the priority areas. i took tim ferris’s stuff on this early on – he talked about racking up library fines as actually being a positive sign that you are focused on only the most important stuff. Taking it to the inbox, I use auto responders if necessary, but ultimately the goal is to get to the most important stuff rather than achieve a particular inbox status. it does mean accepting that from time to time things can slip through but once this is accepted its so freeing and typically very little is missed, worst case someone has to send a reminder.
*strategic prioritisation approach
it’s a good point! I do really prefer zero and my version of what you describe above would just be “email bankruptcy” where if I were really despaired I’d scan everything, reply to what felt important, and bulk archive everything else . same idea different process! I still feel like I don’t want to leave listeners who take time to email hanging, so I still go through everything!
and i appreciate that you do that, having received responses myself!
have you seen oliver burkeman’s newsletter signature: To respond to this newsletter, just hit reply. I love getting replies, and read them all, but have reluctantly come to the conclusion I can’t realistically reply to most. Trust me, I hate this. But, well, human finitude, etc.
wonder if its significant that i’ve referenced two men here too…
I’ve written him before and sometimes received a reply (and honestly have been a little sad when he hasn’t!)
I really liked this episode! I felt like I was floating through my loose-ends and after I listened, I just tackled my work inbox from most recent backwards. I got so much done – thank you!!
that is awesome! It’s amazing how that can feel like such a weight off!!!
Yes, I noticed that this episode, which is recorded on the same day as the blog post “DITL #6: With Some Insights!”, also covers the same insight, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger.
I tested my understanding of your situation by regurgitating your situation as well as your solutions, but that made my comment 450 words long. As a result, I sent my regurgitation of your situation and your solutions to you via email. That adds to your email backlog, of course, so you can feel free to read it next week.
I found that my solution for getting out of the weeds was also to track my time. I’ll also ask myself if I’ll still be in the weeds this time next year. Of course, I’m not under any delusion that I’m immune from being in the weeds in the future, either.
And no, I don’t think it makes sense if someone claims that your planning system doesn’t work. I know that your planning system has, in fact, always allowed for those “In the Weeds” circumstances if one really is just extra busy due to circumstances out of his/her control. And that’s what I think you’re dealing with right now.