Have you ever felt
scattered?

You know the feeling.
You start working on one project only to find yourself thinking about another –
or about half a dozen other things.

How can you get
focused? Here are a few ideas.

Breath

Ideas exist in our
heads and minds. That’s why they can spin and zip around so easily causing us
to feel in a whirl. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths. Breathing
puts us in touch with the realities of our bodies. It calms the mind and brain.
And, it helps us refocus on what we’re doing.

Do it

Often the distracting
thought is about small things we need to remember to do. Sometimes the best
thing to do to get rid of a distracting thought is to simply do it. My rule is that doing it must take less
than 3 minutes. Focusing on the distraction for longer than that can really
destroy our focus on what we were doing. So, if it’s going to take you away
longer just make a note of what you have to do.

Write

When my head’s all in a
whirl and my thoughts are spinning around and clanging like marbles in a
blender, I grab my keyboard and just write. Write till all the ‘stuff’ is out
of me head. Then I can look at what’s on paper and decide what important and
what’s not.

What’s helped you get
focused? Please add your comments at my blog.  

I don’t think of myself as a quitter.

In fact, if anything is true I tend to stick things out far too long. Long past the time when it’s good for me.

Thus it was that the other day I found myself overwhelmed by my ’school work’ as a trainee instructor at the University of Phoenix. That plus the fact that it was becoming clearer that my style of teaching did not match their teaching approach.

Nothing wrong with their approach. It’s very  rigorous, very thorough, very professional.

But, I need to connect emotionally with my students. Ideally I can see them. At the very least, I want to be able to hear them.

Admittedly, the first and last classes of each course are face to face at the University of Phoenix. But, that just wasn’t enough.

So, I quit.

WOW!

At the time I didn’t feel much. But, every day since, every time I log on to internet and DON’T have go read 40 posts about whatever, I feel this little ping of JOY!

Clearly, it was the right decision.

Sometimes, when you are overwhelmed it makes sense to get rid of something. So, get rid of what doesn’t FIT your style.

In the May 2th issue of my  ezine, Creative Careers Unleashed, I talked about Managing Overwhelm using Thinking Strategies.

But, changing the way you Think about things isn’t the only way to deal with overwhelm.

You can use Behavioural or Action strategies as well.

For example, last night I woke at 1:30 a.m. from some crazy dream feeling really wired, anxious, and overwhelmed. I tried to go back to sleep but no dice.

So, instead I got up and went for a brisk 5 km walk.

WARNING: If  you’re female or live in downtown NY city this might not be a good idea.

By the time I was past kilometre 3 I was feeling better. My mind was clear. The anxiety was gone. The overwhelm was in perspective.

So, how does this work?

Sometimes, events in our lives will trigger a physiological reaction that shows up in dreams or even body tingles. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to THINK our way through this.

So, the best response is a body-based, action, behavioural response.

So, someimes the best way to deal with a problem is to "Take a Walk!"