Episode 4: What if there was a way to keep from snapping the next time you felt your frustrations building. What if you could alleviate the triggers even before they progressed to that point? I’m game! It’s all about the “sticky notes”. This episode tackles 5 notes you want to have in your life to serve as a lifeline the next time the pressures feel like they want to boil over.
Demands are high and you seem to be the only one on this earth that can swoop in and fix it, right? Or at least that’s what everyone is acting like.
How do you balance everything? Mom duties, Dad duties, work duties, spouse duties, and teacher duties are all screaming to be attended to, and “self” duties aren’t even a thought on the horizon.
With all that’s going on and so much uncertainty, so many of us are finding ourselves holding on by a thread.
So What Do I Do?
If you walk into my office right now, I can just about bet you will find at least a few sticky notes hanging around. And no, I’m not messy and I do love organization but I like to set myself up for wins as I go about my day.
So why sticky notes?
Because they serve as a reminder of where our thoughts need to travel throughout our day. They are gentle reminders of things I feel are just too important to forget or lose in that black hole of mounting daily tasks and thoughts.
Even more importantly, they serve as a trigger to bring us into the right-thinking, healthy thinking, and truths we all seem to forget along the way.
These sticky notes become your lifeline, your pull back to reality and they serve as your reset. And because I know they work, I want to share my top 5 with you so that they can serve you well and the next time you feel like you want to SNAP, you’ll have them in plain sight.
My Top 5 Sticky Notes
Sticky Note #1 – Remember the team
Did you forget? You’re not alone! That’s right, you have two amazing teams that are just waiting for your exceptional leadership, Team Personal; that’s your kids, husband, friends, and Team Professional; your coworkers, boss, and collaborators.
I love sharing this concept with my clients as one of the ways we can shift our perspective. That’s right, both of your teams are just waiting for your direction and even if they balk a little bit, they’ll soon join the cause.
Your teams are more likely to buy in if they understand the vision and why their role is so important to the success of the mission. That’s why, as much as I joke about the concept of family meetings, they are so important. We have these meetings at work for clarity and cohesiveness, so why not at the most important nebulous of our lives as well? So, your sticky note can be either of the phases above, or both, whichever will help you remember, that you have amazing “P” Teams and you are not alone.
Sticky Note #2 – Cloning is not an option
There is only one of you!
As much as you wish there were more of you, there aren’t! You cannot be all things to all people, you can’t do everything and much as I hate to tell you this, somebody probably can do it better. So, what can we do when we finally face this reality? You’d almost think this is an oxymoron to the first sticky note that says, “You’re not alone”.
Well, although there is only one you, you’re not alone! You have the “P” teams remember, and so, we delegate to the teams! Although at the beginning it may take more time to train others to take over some of your “duties”, in the long run, it definitely serves as a win-win situation mentally, physically, and developmentally.
Sticky Note #3 – YES for the WIN
One of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves is learn how to say YES to ourselves!
This is more than self-care; this is sanity-care!
In my recent book, I’ll Make It Through; Managing Life When All Hell Breaks Loose, I specifically talk about living one day at a time and enjoying one moment at a time and finding peace in those practices.
I remember saying in one section of Chapter 5 that it’s important “to find a way to IN-Joy the moment at hand.” Our sanity is dependent on how we find a way to say YES internally as well as externally and how we shed the unwarranted guilt. We must learn to say our deserved YES, unapologetically! That’s when you and everyone around you win.
Sticky Note #4 – Play the numbers
No! I am not talking about the lottery!
This one is a sure WIN! Everyone involved comes out a winner and you get to choose the winning number.
So, what in the world am I talking about. Setting Priorities! We will always have things that need to be done and I’m sorry to inform you, there is no such thing as “work/life balance”. What we must learn to do is master the delicate dance of ebb and flow.
There are times in our lives that our professional life will take precedence and other times our personal life will take precedence. The most important decision we can make is at the end of the day, which is the most important, and make sure you have buy-in from all those affected. Then set the priorities for that season.
This is always evolving.
Sticky Note #5 – Go to time-out
This one was hard for me to get at first. But I realized I was looking at it all wrong. I was looking at it as a punishment and not a privilege.
Having downtime, time away from others, time to regroup, refocus and/or recharge is important to our creativity and our ability to serve well.
But time-out isn’t just for us. We all at some time need to step back and unplug. This can be done by a simple act of just shutting a door, moving to another location, or taking a walk, just to name a few ideas.
Your people also need time away from you, so don’t get offended when others need their time-out from you. Time-out is a great thing!
Listen, I would love to go into more detail on each one of these sticky notes but if I did, this would be a forever piece. So, I just want you to walk away today with the top, “SNAP” prevention notes you want around your home and office before you have your next “end of the line” moment.
- Remember the team, you are not alone!
- Cloning is not an option, there is only one you (me)!
- YES for the WIN, say yes to yourself!
- Play the numbers, set priorities!
- Go to time-out, take downtime!
Use your own words or mine, the exact words don’t matter, but what’s important is writing the notes, putting them up as a reminder, and taking action.
The key is to use these before you need them and you won’t have to worry about falling into your “SNAP” moment!
Want to know more ways to incorporate sticky notes and other practices to manage balancing work and home life? Looking to master the unexpected? The ability to avoid a “SNAP” moment and find some semblance of peace is imperative to our mental and emotional wellbeing.
This is a learned art and requires practice and so I would encourage you to get this FREE gift of You Deserve A Life of YES to start you on the journey to practicing this pathway to sanity!
I hope you decide to add these to your collection of sticky notes and I would love to hear how they worked for you. Don’t forget to contact me at the link below if you’d like to explore how I can help your further.
You can catch all of the resources I talked about in this post and podcast by clicking the link below in resources.
Until next time,
RESOURCES:
