Do you feel overwhelmed?

Hi Everyone

I hope you had a great week!

This week I will share a technique I use on a regular basis to handle life when I feel overwhelmed. At the bottom of the email, I'll also share my favorite Olympics moment so far.

Being the CEO of SparkPeople is a fun job much of the time, but it's also fairly stressful running an internet company in part because it's challenging to figure out how to make money with internet companies. As a result, sometimes I get into positions where I'll have an overwhelming number of projects that need to be completed in a short amount of time.

If you know me, you can probably guess what I often do in these circumstances: take a 10 minute or more fitness break! As I've shared in the past, this often helps me think about problems in a different way and is often when I come up with my best ideas/solutions.

But that's not the solution I want to share today.

Another activity I often do when feeling overwhelmed is to set a goal to organize/clean my office or house for 10 minutes. I actually write this goal down in my daily planning spreadsheet.

Next, I start the stopwatch and see how much I can accomplish in 10 minutes.

This could include: doing the dishes, filing paperwork, paying bills that are sitting around, taking out the garbage, and more.

I then come back to my computer and move this goal to the completed goals section.

Some reasons this works for me include:

• It gives me a break from thinking about work and I come back fresh
• Reaching a quick goal helps me get fired up to do more
• I think this is another way besides exercise that lets my brain work in a different way often leading to different types of thinking

I really do notice when I do this I'm often ready to tackle a big work challenge.

Another reason I really like this is that it's another type of quick "investment" that helps you both now and later. In addition to the immediate benefits mentioned above that help me then tackle my work projects, I then also have a more organized office, cleaner house, fewer tasks to do, etc.

Doing this on a regular basis works to keep your stress levels in check. It also helps you feel more in control of your destiny.

If you have a weight loss goal, all of this is an example of smart strategy to use all areas of life to help you lose weight. Specifically, we find that emotional/stress eating is the top overall reason people gain weight -- and it's a big reason people fall off of their weight loss goals.

This turns into one more healthy habit than can keep you on track and build your confidence that you can reach goals in all areas of life!

Winter Olympics

Are you watching any of the Olympics? We haven't watched too much, but are catching some. Our favorite moment as a family so far was the finals of the men's figure skating. Yuzuru Hanyu from Japan was electrifying! My 14yo teenage son said, "wow, he makes figure skating look cool!"

If you missed this one, here is a video.

My guess is this video will only work in the United States, so you might need to do a search to find this outside the US.

Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it! Let me know your thoughts on the 10 minute organization/cleaning break and your favorite moment of the Olympics so far on my blog.

Also, if you haven't joined my SparkTeam, here is a link to the team.

SparkCheers!

Chris "SparkGuy" Downie



Chris (SparkGuy)

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