More Things To Do, Less Life To Live

Do you have a feeling that every day there are more and more things to do, and there is not enough time for anything? Are you only enough for work tasks and urgent matters? Have you abandoned your hobbies and started spending less time with family and friends? Do you have sleep disturbances, fatigue, began to malfunctioning the body? If you answered yes to all the questions, then you are definitely in the “funnel of exhaustion.”

A “funnel of exhaustion” is an effect that usually occurs due to a disruption in the schedule or due to a short-term increase in workload. For example, you have a new urgent project at work, the number of tasks has increased dramatically. First of all, you discard everything that is not urgent: hobbies, household chores, meeting friends. If that doesn’t work, you start sacrificing sleep. Your productivity is depleted without recovery, you perform worse and worse, and things keep piling up.

There is no strength for anything, and tasks all fall and fall. And it seems like you are just not dragging your life. And the feeling of life is no longer there: continuous affairs.

This is what a typical “funnel of exhaustion” looks like. Let’s take it to step by step and see how a person falls into this trap:

4 steps to the funnel of attrition:

Step 1. First bell.

You have a normal fulfilling life. You work, develop, communicate with your family, you have a favorite hobby, you have enough time to watch a fresh film or go for a walk without any purpose. But at some point, you have a suspicion that you are wasting a lot of time, that film and cross-stitching are useless activities, and you could do something really cool during this time.

Step 2. Step into the funnel.

The very moment when your load increases. Either at work or you yourself have set some very important goals for yourself. First of all, you start to free up time for an increased load. Time management gurus advise in such cases to prioritize and postpone not the most important things.

It all starts harmlessly: here the workout was missed, they decided not to read the book in the evening, here the meeting with a friend was canceled. But, the further, the more such cases are sent to the trash. And you do not even notice that you are throwing away everything that gave pleasure and filled with energy. You don’t notice, not because you’re stupid or careless, but because your reserve is still full, and you don’t feel any difference: it’s like the same cheerful and productive, there is nothing to be lazy.

Step 3. Approaching the funnel neck.

The resource is depleted, life is filled with stress, you begin to feel resistance when solving work tasks or when trying to get down to something. Irritation, procrastination, feeling of lack of time and energy.

If you had a temporary influx of business, then there is still a chance to emerge — the project is over, you have cleared your debts and returned to your usual rhythm. If you yourself constantly put yourself into such a load, it will only get worse.

Step 4. Jam.

At this stage, exhaustion begins. Your mental state gets worse, you stop experiencing positive emotions, the feeling of life is erased. All you feel is fatigue and despair. I have no strength for anything.

Here physiological manifestations begin:

• sleep disturbances;
• emotional instability, irritability;
• digestive system problems;
• dizziness, fatigue;
• cardiopalmus.

Naturally, the last stage does not come quickly — it usually takes at least six months to get to this point. But if you feel that you are rolling in that direction, stop and get out before it’s too late. And if it’s too late, put only one priority in front of yourself. Get out of the funnel.

How to get out of the “funnel of exhaustion”:

The good news is that you don’t need specialist help to get out of the funnel of attrition. You can easily do it yourself. The main thing is to choose the right tactics for yourself. We will show you the recommendations that coaches and psychologists give for such a case, and you can choose those that respond to you. By the way, they will also help with prevention.

1. Plan rest blocks.

Your priority right now is recovery, so pleasure and idleness deserve a separate line in your diary. And they deserve so much that from there you can delete something from the “important and urgent” cases.

If you feel yourself at the very bottom of the funnel and you already have physiological manifestations, then feel free to move all things and take a vacation. Even if everything is on fire. Because otherwise you still won’t “take out” and will only provoke more serious mental or health problems.

2. Find out what’s charging and discharging you.

Simple exercise: Write down everything you do during the day and mark it with + or — signs. A plus — if the work fills you with energy and goes into pleasure, and a minus — if the activity is devastating.

In a week, you can get a real picture of how you are using energy. Now you can increase the number of charging cases or change the charge of a case. For example, you are exhausted by the monotonous cleaning, but it can also charge you with cheerful music and dancing.

3. Give up the time eaters.

There are many activities that just steal your time, but at the same time do not charge you and do not contribute to your rest: surfing the Internet and social networks, skirmishes with trolls on the network, playing on your smartphone and the like, which are needed only in order to listen. in this phrase — to kill time. Precisely to kill, and not to spend with benefit or pleasure.

The paradox is that the tighter your schedule, the more you are drawn to the time eaters to turn off your head and not think about anything.

4. Switch.

Take reasonable breaks from work, but those during which you switch to a completely different type of activity. We hear this simple advice very often, but for some reason, we are in no hurry to follow it. But he helps a lot!

5. Look after yourself as you would look after a friend.

How would you behave if you found out that your closest friend has driven himself into a “funnel of exhaustion”? Surely you would try to help him, take him out on a rewarding vacation, try to create positive impressions for him, treat him with understanding, and would not demand any heroism from him with overwork. So why can’t you treat yourself with the same care and attention?

Exhaustion is not weakness or laziness, it is a temporary and very unpleasant state, from which one must get out. Better yet, never hit it. To build a balance and take care of yourself!