The Brain and Overwhelm - Not Meant For Each Other

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Martha Beck, coach and author, made the following statement recently:

“Overwhelm” is increasingly common as demands on human attention increase exponentially. The human brain just wasn’t designed to handle the environment we inhabit.

So, it’s not just you who is thinking, ‘Gosh, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I manage everything that’s going on?’ It’s nearly every person I know - and I know a lot of awesome folks…and everyone is thinking, “OMG! There’s too much.”

Some Truths to Evaluate for Yourself

Here are some ‘truths’ to evaluate for yourself:

  • You are not fully aware of everything that you actually have going on professionally.
  • You are not fully aware of everything that you actually have going on personally.
  • There literally are NOT enough hours in the day to do all the things that you think you should be doing (or that you have ‘committed’ to do).
  • The input never ends - people, emails, phone, mail, radio, TV, your own brain, etc…continue to put more into the ‘hopper.’

What Do You Have to Resist in Order to Get to ‘Just Whelmed’?

Paraphrasing Martha Beck (from the previously-quoted O article, entitled “Wait! Stop! It’s All Too Much”), handling overwhelm is not for the faint-of-heart. You have to resist deep instinctive and cultural tendencies. Please ask (and answer) the following questions:

  • What messages have you gotten - in some cases throughout your life - that being OVERwhelmed is normal?
  • What messages are you getting right now (within the last few days) - that being OVERwhelmed at work is normal (and even admirable)?
  • What messages do you get from magazines, TV, friends, newspapers, or other incoming information - that being OVERwhelmed is normal?

And now the really big question to answer:

  • What do you ‘get’ by staying in OVERwhelm?

How’s That Working for You?

I think this is a Dr. Phil question…and it’s definitely a coaching-type question. And it’s one that each of us need to ask when we’re in a crazed state for any length of time. I’m not talking about when all of a sudden, one of your kids gets sick, your boss runs off with a temp and leaves the organization in the lurch, your next door neighbor is in the hospital and you promised to care for the kids for a few days, and your electricity goes out - and all of these are happening in the same weekend. Those are intermittent crazed periods and we survive and move on.

The question, “How is that working for you?” needs to be asked and answered when we have either put ourselves into or allowed ourselves to be subjected to a crazed, overwhelmed life - week in and week out, month in and month out, year in and year out. The truth is (and I have to face this truth for myself) we are getting SOMETHING out of being and staying in overwhelm or we would do something about it. Reread the questions listed above as often as you need to until you ‘get it.’

Being ‘just whelmed’ is possible - at least most of the time. It means you have to make some choices, but aren’t you and your life worth being ‘just whelmed’ instead of living in overwhelm (or underwhelm)? I hope you say, “Yes.”

And if you know your brain is overloaded - and you would like to be ‘just whelmed,’ then you’re invited to join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (free!) at
**I Want to Be Just Whelmed (http://www.JustWhelmed.com)

If you would prefer quick, short weekly tips, then the following site is another place to find suggestions and other tools to support you in your quest for peaceful productivity:
**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do. Sound interesting? It is!

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