Tag Archives: routines

My Secret Hacks to Quelling Overwhelm?

Besides coffee? Two old things and one new thing stand out.

Flylady’s concept of breaking routines down into manageable bites changed my life.

Not so much because I followed her specific routines–I needed to build my own. But because of the methodology behind FlyLady (created by Marla Cilley). The idea that a routine and habit don’t require much to become established–just 15 minutes a day. And tackling any bear of a task can still be done in time-bites of just a few minutes at a time.

Flylady’s concept was life-altering because it helped me focus on reframing everything into baby steps. And that made things much easier to accomplish as a WAHM, a military wife, and active volunteer at the school. Meditation, sales copy, exercise, laundry that never gets folded (LOL)–EVERYTHING can be broken into 15-minute bites.

Brain health and mental hacks are an area I’ve been deep-diving into for years.

Brain coach Jim Kwik teaches a concept of helping the brain wake up in the morning by tying a cognitive task to a habitual one, like brushing your teeth. It’s impressive really. I’ve been using it for over a year now, and it’s had a positive effect.

Learning about the brain’s natural rhythms for sleep cycles, cycles of alternating dominance between right and left brain function during the day, and how to frame my daily tasks around those left vs. right brain rhythms has also significantly improved my quality of life and work. I don’t hate myself when I pay attention to my sleep cycles. When my left-brain steam runs dry, I let it rest and shift my tasks to right-brain-focused activities.

Respecting and using my own natural brain intervals to my advantage by planning around that timing really helps me take my work to the next level and reduces mental stress. I’ve been using right vs. left brain techniques for several years, and whenever I fail to mind those mental routines, I don’t feel as on my game.

To me–this is the most crucial routine/habit/hack I’ve acquired.

My newest life-changing routine/habit is framing my daily and weekly to-do lists around the concept of “what will help me *feel* like I have won the day?”

It’s a bit of a meditative technique and a Jedi mind trick, BUT it’s working, and I feel less overwhelmed. Less overwhelm is a GIFT, and it helps me drive farther! I have my giant list of things that need doing, but I filter them into daily to-dos with this framework.

This approach requires a disciplined mind, and works well for someone who is in tune with themselves, is highly motivated, and likes to work hard. Each day the list can be adjusted as needed because things pop up and change our schedule. But focusing on wanting to feel like I “won the day” keeps me on top of the things that even my subconscious wants me to take care of. Because I can’t trick myself into feeling anything I genuinely don’t.

Life can be overwhelming. These 3 routine-based life hacks contain my “body-mind-soul” approach to reducing overwhelm.

• A way to reduce physical overwhelm by breaking tasks into smaller bites.
• Reducing my mental overwhelm by working with my brain’s natural rhythms and how it wants to work.
• And by supporting my emotional well-being–ensuring that my soul feels satisfied at the end of the day.