Feeling Overwhelmed?

Me too.

My apologies for the gap in my posting. I usually pump out 2-3 articles for you every week, but the last week and a half has been an exception.

My Excuse

It’s been one of those times when doing dual-duty as a Senior Systems Engineer and a Project Manager hit me all at once. Being responsible for 4 separate systems with their own requirements, interfaces, stakeholders, etc. can sometimes be pretty darn taxing, even with all the effort I’ve put in over the years getting better at being efficient and effective as possible.

It just happens sometimes.

Commitments with family and friends have also been elevated in the past 2-3 weeks.  Something had to give, I hope you can forgive me!

And I bet you can relate too.  Sometimes everything just seems to hit you all at once.  When it rains, it pours.

But now I’ve got my 3 sons all put to bed and have a bit of time to spend with you and reflect for myself on how crazy life can get sometimes.

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

At times like this, it’s important to not stress out about all the things you wanted to do and didn’t.

Instead, look forward.

I have been re-evaluating the systems I have in place to ensure I’m being as effective as possible.

I’m trying out some new things, and I’ll see how they pan out in the next few weeks.

Move Forward, Never Quit

A key lesson to share with you is this: treat these overwhelming times as opportunities for reflection and improvement.  Without the challenges in life, we would never be pushed to get even better.

Life is a grand experiment if you let it be. There is no need to dwell on the past when things didn’t turn out the way you wanted them too. In order to succeed, you must fail again and again. And that’s OK.

Perhaps you didn’t work on your career goals as much lately as you planned. Perhaps you didn’t study as much for school or the PMP Exam as you would have liked.

Figure out why, and determine if it was in your control. Sometimes, it’s not in your control. Sometimes, life happens.

Often however you will find the opposite if you are being truthful with yourself. There are things you could have done better. Items within your control. When you find those, smile.

When you find them, you have increased your ‘locus of control’. This is the sphere in your life where you have the ability to make a direct impact on the outcome. The more challenges you face — and the more you find those areas where you could have done better — the more you expand your locus of control.

And expanding your influence on your own life is awesome.

Every time.

 

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