There’s something so inspiring about the Olympics.
Last week, I wrote about stepping back to move forward.
I think about Simone Biles and how difficult it must have been for her to step away from her team 4 years ago and watch them get the silver. I’m sure a thousand questions ran through her mind -
Should I just push through for my team?
Or is it more important to take care of myself and not get injured for life?
I'm super excited for their gold.
What stories of resilience!
I remember being a high school athlete.
I was on the gymnastics team my freshman year but realized quickly that I didn’t have the passion or talent it would take to continue.
In fifth grade, I was doing back handsprings and so close to backflips.
In sixth grade, I switched to a private school and my parents insisted that I focus on schoolwork.
Gymnastics would be there for me later.
Unfortunately, I had a major growth spurt - a foot in height and 30 pounds (I was tiny) in that sixth grade year.
When I went back to gymnastics in seventh grade, I literally wasn’t the same child.
I was a teen with a teen body and I had no understanding of how that body worked in space.
Kind of messes up your ability to do back handsprings and back flips.
I stayed with gymnastics because I enjoyed it and the people.
But it was never going to be my superpower.
You might think I regret that but I don’t.
I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot about myself and I made wonderful friendships.
I moved on to do other things.
But I learned that if you push through you can get hurt.
I’m not saying you just quit the second it gets tough.
But pushing through can be a recipe for burnout.
We overschedule our lives.
We sacrifice our health and well-being to the altar of busy.
Did you know that being busy isn’t necessarily productive?
Think back to last week?
Did you get the end of a busy day and feel like you got nothing done?
Because our neurozesty brains want to do ALLTHETHINGS we’re notorious for making too many priorities in one day.
But we really need to stop at three.
Three is a magic number…yes it is…it’s a magic number.
I had a client who worked in Human Resources insist that she could accomplish five major tasks on her to-do list at work each day.
We’d go through a prioritization matrix and she would quickly realize that with work meetings and last minute interruptions, because people stuff always comes up in HR, that three was much more realistic.
When you over-prioritize, you get to the end of the day frustrated and angry with yourself because you didn’t get enough done.
Who wants that?
Imagine how triumphant you’ll feel when you cross those three items off your list at the end of the day.
And guess what?
You can celebrate even if it’s only two or one.
Because you’re making forward progress on your goals.
Go you!
As for me, I’m making forward progress in my month-long pause.
I’m enjoying time with my family and friends.
I’m updating my long-term documents so that some day, hopefully a long time from now, everything will be nicely organized for my daughter.
I’m walking and resting and spending time by the water (one of my favorite things!).
And of course, I’m watching the Olympics!
Last but not least, as a thank you for being a loyal reader, here's that prioritization matrix I use with my clients:
Test it out and let me know how it works for you!
