My last Dr. Success Challenge was to just notice if and when you were suffering from resilience fatigue. As promised, here are some suggestions to overcome resilience fatigue:
1. Rest. I know I am stating the obvious, but you might be surprised how low you allow your energy reserves to get before you actually stop and rest. A way to see if you do not rest often enough is to notice how low you allow the gas tank in your car to get before you fill up. Not kidding. If you are in the habit of bringing the tank down to the last fume before you fill your gas tank, I would put money on you being in the habit of allowing yourself to get completely run down before you ‘refill’.
2. Play. I know this appears counter-intuitive, yet there is tons of research to support that taking a break from the tasks you fear are holding you back…and thereby giving you an opportunity to realign your awareness and perspective…will actually help you feel more resilient.
3. Take an Action. Note I wrote ‘an’, meaning one. Take a Single Daily Action or SDA . If you have a to-do list that is so long there is no hope of every getting everything done, create a second list — stick with me here — a second list with only one item on it each day. Your to-do list becomes your master list of things you think you need to do, your SDA becomes the one action you are willing to take at this moment – which is the only thing you potentially control anyway.
In the end, resilience fatigue is created in the mind, with the help of lists that are too long, sleep that is too short, and recreation that dropped off the list a long time ago.
P.S. The photo on this blog was sent in an email from a client. The email was about the progress he was making with a new business plan. He said he was writing me this update from his office!
Here is a nice short blog listing things successful people do (that those who describe their lives as less success do not do!) http://successify.net/2012/10/31/22-things-happy-people-do-differently/
Enjoy the moment.
Loved your article, Andrea! Thank you for writing it! We decide far too often to just run with our gas tanks empty and still expect to run… even efficiently. Allowing ourselves one day off with no to-dos is a gift we need to grant ourselves from time to time too… Thank you so much for this awareness bringing post.