If you’re finding something stressful, ask yourself these questions.

How I've gone from overwhelming to-do list to enjoying work again

You may have noticed that I haven’t written a free article in 2 weeks (or not, you have more important things to think about). 

Ultimately, it comes down to one thing. 

I’ve simply not wanted to 🤷‍♀️

Maybe you can empathise?

You chose your job for a reason. 

• Maybe you enjoy the challenge of diagnosing a difficult patient. 

• Maybe you love that moment a student understands something new for the first time, and their eyes light up with excitement

• Maybe you LOVE creating a super detailed excel spreadsheet and seeing all the equations work perfectly (just me?). 

But when you’re stressed, you miss those moments.

You’re so busy worrying about how you’ll get it all done, that you don’t enjoy any of it.

That’s been me in the last 2 weeks. 

Or was very nearly me. 

Because when I’m feeling so stressed that I don’t want to do “jobs” I normally enjoy, I do something different. 

I remind myself I don’t have to coach.

Just like I left veterinary practice because it was not good for my mental health, I can stop this and do something else if I want to. 

That instantly makes me go “hell no, I LOVE this, let’s make this enjoyable again”. 

I remove everything non-essential from my to-do list as a way to remove the pressure - hence no newsletter.

And then with that pressure removed, BOOM, I want to write again. It feels fun again.

Note this only works if you GENUINELY remove it from your to-do list. As in “even if this never gets done, that’s ok”. 

How does this work in a “real job”?

Excellent question, glad you’ve asked. 

If you’re not self-employed, you can’t just say “I don’t enjoy that part of my job atm because I’m feeling stressed, so I’m not going to do it”.

But you CAN honestly look at what’s essential. 

I did this last week in my job as a uni lecturer.

I was doing the job of 3 people on my own, and was totally snowed under. 

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

So I re-wrote my to-do list. 

1. If this stuff doesn’t get done TODAY, we’re in trouble

2. If this stuff doesn’t get done SOON, we’re in trouble

3. It would be really great if we did this stuff, but ultimately, we’ll survive without it. 

Old Me put EVERYTHING in list 1. Maybe list 2 at a push. 

Mindful Me realised there was a lot which was actually list 3 category.

And I realised I could get all of items 1 and 2 done in the necessary timescale IF I stopped trying to do list 3 as well. 

I told my line manager that if she wanted items on list 3 doing, she’d need to recruit support.

AND THEN something magical happened. 

Because I’d removed the pressure

• I enjoyed it

• I focused more easily because I wasn’t stressed

• I FINISHED 90 MINUTES EARLY

• In that 90 minutes, I ticked off a further FOUR items from list 3 that I’d assumed would never take hours and so would never get done. 

So if you’re finding something stressful right now, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions. 

1. If you weren’t under pressure to do said task, would it still be stressful?

2. If you weren’t under pressure to do said task, would it be enjoyable?

3. How can you remove some of that pressure?

---

Enjoying work even when it’s stressful, is the theme this month in MOMENTUM, my paid monthly membership. 

We’re covering

• Something you do when work is stressful that STOPS you enjoying it* - and how mindfulness helps.

  *full disclaimer, I do this sometimes too.

• The CARE strategy for when you’re feeling stressed and focusing on the present moment isn’t helping (or is making it worse).

• Moving on after a stressful meeting / consult / colleague interaction so you can enjoy more of work.

If you want to join, select the paid subscription option below for just £7.50/month.

Get all past and future episodes, plus access to the comments thread to ask questions and get accountability 🥳

---

Or, if you prefer learning in-person, I have space on my Mindful Living Retreat 27-29th Sept near Bristol, England. 

48 hours training your brain to focus on the moment in front of you and forget about that massive to-do list.

You’ll leave

• feeling calm and refreshed

• understanding how and why mindfulness can change your life

• with a personalised MINDFUL TM plan to make this a way life every day

---

That’s it for today folks. 

I hope it’s given you ideas to removing pressure in work (and life!), and so bring you more joy back into your life.

If it has, I’d LOVE it you shared with us in the comments 🥰

Sending love,

Lucy x