Being prepared is one thing you can do set yourself up for success. It’s not always easy when you’ve got a lot on your plate but making sure you know the demands on you, in both your work and home lives really can help.
Often the overwhelmed feeling comes from not knowing what we don’t know, or not accurately sizing the things we do know about. We feel out of control because there is so much to do and we haven’t given ourself the time to work through what that actually is, and how long it will take.
Sometimes you have to make tough choices to not do one thing, in place of enabling you to be prepared for another. Preparation gives us confidence, clarity, and reduces stress levels so it’s really important when you need to be more resilient.
Preparation can come in the form of doing pre work for a meeting, or research for a piece of work, or it can simply be working through your approach to a problem or an issue that you’re facing so you have an If…then statement. If this happens, then I’ll take this action. The act of thinking through the various scenarios ahead of time and your proposed reaction to those is useful because it removes the uncertainty.
Where there is uncertainty there is often anxiety. The reactions you propose might be uncomfortable, you might not want things to turn out that way and you might not want to take those approaches, but deciding that those are the best courses for a particular scenario will help you connect with that approach and take away some of the challenge, and also give you comfort that you’ve done the thinking and it’s the right thing to do. So not always easy but the process itself helps.
Being prepared can also be really practical steps too. Doing the right things to support a good nights sleep before a big day is one of those, making sure you have a wind down routine to relax into bedtime, maybe an early night and a bath to help you sleep. Whatever works for you. Another practical step to take is making sure you have organised meals or snacks ahead of a busy day, so you’ve got options that will help you stay sharp rather than sluggish, food to hand when you need it, with minimal cooking time so you can fit it into that day. Leftovers is a good way to do this, cook extra for dinner and have it for lunch the next day.
Finally one last way to prepare is to get your stress levels under control, in a supportive way. Often when we’re stressed we’ll reach for the less healthy coping mechanisms (pass the wine!) as they seem easier than the alternatives like fitting in some gentle exercise. Coping mechanisms are fine and I’m not going to be critical of things that do help, but just recognise that the help these provide is limited and often has a down side, for example with the wine, the down side is usually worse quality sleep and feeling sluggish or lethargic the folllowing day. If you’ve got an important day coming up, the wine won’t be the best choice on that basis, but no judgement. Just to say maybe try the exercise option first or as well as and see if that makes a difference. Sometimes a nice walk with a chatty friend is more effective than a solo jog or chilled Pinot Grigio.
And a last note on being prepared is to remind yourself of how capable and competent you are. We so often brush off our success and move on to the next thing immediately rather than wallow in our amazingness (is that even a word? It should be!). If you forget all the great things you’ve done in life, write them down. Make a list of all the things you were really proud to achieve. Passed your driving test? Put it on the list. Helped someone in their hour of need? On the list. Did something daring like left a job you hated or went travelling? Put it on the list. And get the list out every so often when you need to remind yourself of all the great things you’ve done. There will be more than you think, but I f you struggle to write the list, get some help from your friends and loved ones, they will remember the big things you did even if you don’t.