Managing the Chaos of Life

By: Curtis Hill

As a leader many times you are pulled in multiple directions at the same time. If you are not careful it will stretch you so thin, that you won’t even recognize who you are. There are three kinds of leaders. Those who are fired up, those whose fire is not burning as bright as it used to and those whose fire has burned out. I will provide you with four quit tips that will help you regain control of your life and keep the fire burning bright.

Prioritize 

Fitting things into categories is a necessary part of being effective and allowing your light to burn, without you burning out. There are areas in your life that require more time and attention than others. It is impossible to do everything, be everywhere and not be burned out. Do the things that matter the most, that has the highest impact. Prioritizing will help you avoid those low visibility, low impact tasks that you should be delegating to others.  

 Delegate 

Once you prioritize you can determine which tasks can be done by others. This really comes in handy when you are required to do a lot and only have a small amount of time to get it done. Not only that, delegating builds you as a leader. Whenever you show trust in those who you lead, it’s a sign of growth for you and those you have entrusted to get things done. Delegating gives you more time to focus on the things that matter most.

Chunk

Chunking is the art of taking something big and breaking down into smaller more manageable pieces. This will allow you to look at part of the whole, without feeling overwhelmed. Attacking a smaller more manageable task will do two things. 1. It will take the stress of a big project off of you. 2. It will allow you to have small celebrations throughout the process.

 Rest

Rejuvenation begins with rest. Proper rest will allow your body, mind, and spirit to be renewed. Rest has some hidden benefits, according to a study done by the University Of Chicago, you can lose weight while you are sleeping and if you don’t sleep at least five and a half hours of sleep you will be hungrier when you wake up. Get plenty of rest to avoid burnout and to stay in shape.

 Now that you have these tools, the next time you have to balance multiple priorities, project, and deadlines you can approach them in a systematic way and avoid burning out.