Motivation 💪

• START TODAY

• READ BOOKS AND DO THE STUFF IN THE BOOKS

• TAKE ADVICE FROM RICH PEOPLE ON HOW TO BE RICH

• PICK A SPOUSE THAT SUPPORTS YOUR GOALS

• FAIL ONCE, TRY AGAIN

• THINK THE WORLD IS UNFAIR AND ACT ACCORDINGLY

• NEVER BLAME YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, THANK YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES FOR WHO YOU ARE

• INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING, DO SOMETHING

• EXPECT NO ONE TO SAVE YOU EXCEPT FOR YOURSELF

• VALUE YOUR OPINION OVER THOSE OF OTHER PEOPLE

• SEEK OUT DISCOMFORT

• TOLERATE NOTHING BUT EXCELLENCE

• MAKE PROMISES, KEEP PROMISES

• DON’T WAIT FOR PERFECT CONDITIONS

• AVOID WORKING ON STUFF THAT DOESN’T MATTER

• SAY YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOMETHING THEN DO ITDO WHAT NO ONE ELSE IS DOING

• DO YOUR BEST AND MAKE IT ABOVE THE MARK OF SUCCESS

• TALK LESS, DO MORE

• START SOMETHING AND KEEP AT IT, DON’T GIVE UP

• DON’T BELIEVE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOU MORE THAN WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOU

• BE IRREPLACEABLE

• FIND SOMETHING THAT WORKS AND DON’T STOP DOING IT

• KEEP DOING IT UNTIL YOU ARE BORED OUT OF YOUR MIND BECAUSE YOU ARE SO GOOD

• HIRE SMART PEOPLE

• ASSUME YOU ARE ALWAYS WRONG

• BE WILLING TO LEARN

• MAKE MONEY AND SPEND LESS THAN YOU MAKE

“Success is not built on success. It's built on failure. It's built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” – Sumner Redstone​

“Frustration is a very positive sign. It means that the solution to your problem is within range, but what you're currently doing isn't working, and you need to change your approach in order to achieve your goal.” – Anthony Robbins​

“Frustration is the fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea.” – Marley Dias​

“Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.” – Bo Bennett​

“Things never go the way you expect them to. That's both the joy and frustration in life. I'm finding as I get older that I don't mind, though. It's the surprises that tickle me the most, the things you don't see coming.” – Michael Stuhlbarg​

“In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.” – Lee Iacocca

​“I've come to believe that all my past failure and frustrations were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” – Anthony Robbins​

“Realize that if you have time to whine and complain about something, then you have the time to do something about it.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo​

“The word “frustration” is defined as the unfortunate tendency of lessening one’s destiny. Rise up and take all frustrations away! Stop squeezing your dreams into a small size… You were not created to settle for less!” – Israelmore Ayivor

Article from Harvard Business Review -  Author: Rebecca Zucker

Steps to be less overwhelmed

 Pinpoint the primary source of overwhelm. Ask yourself the question, “What one or two things, if taken off my plate would alleviate 80% of the stress that I feel right now?” While you may still be responsible for these items and cannot actually take them off your plate, this question can still help you identify a significant source of your stress. If it’s a big project that’s almost done, finish it. Or, if it’s the sheer size of the task or project that is overwhelming you, break it down into more manageable components, ask for additional resources or renegotiate the deadline if you are able — or all of the above.

​Set boundaries on your time and workload. This can include “time boxing” the hours you spend on a task or project, leaving the office by a certain time, or saying no to specific types of work. Here's an example: Ajay realized he was spending a significant amount of time mediating conflicts between various team members, which was not only an unproductive use of his time, but also reinforced their behavior of escalating issues to him instead of learning to resolve these problems themselves. Saying “no” to these escalations and setting expectations that they do their best to work out these issues before coming to him, created more breathing room for him to focus on his priorities with fewer distractions.

​Challenge your perfectionism. Perfectionism can lead us to make tasks or projects bigger than they need to be, which can lead to procrastination and psychological distress. As things pile up, the sense of overwhelm grows, which can then lead to more procrastination and more overwhelm. Sheryl Sandberg famously said, “Done is better than perfect.” Know when “good” is “good enough” by asking yourself, “What is the marginal benefit of spending more time on this task or project?” If the answer is very little, stop where you are and be done with it. Part of this is also recognizing that we cannot do everything perfectly. Sue, who works for a tech company that recently went public, was leading many simultaneous projects and was fearful she’d miss an important email. With this strategy, Sue was finally able to accept that sometimes an email will be overlooked, and that if it’s important enough, the other person will follow up with her.

​Outsource or delegate. Ask yourself, “What is the highest and best use of my time?” Activities that don’t fall within your answer can be taught and/or delegated to others. This can include managing selected projects, delegating attending certain meetings, having a team member conduct the initial interviews for an open position, or outsourcing the cleaning of your home and meal preparation. Here's an example: Maria had the revelation that she should delegate the weekly Sales meeting that she had always led to — of all people — the Head of Sales! She realized she had hired this person over a year ago but was still clinging to certain responsibilities that “she had always done,” and had never fully empowered him, for fear of giving up control. In the end, she admitted all she really needed was an email update. By letting go of this one task, she freed up 52 hours a year to focus on other high-priority strategic issues.​

Challenge your assumptions. If feeling overwhelmed is an ongoing struggle, it is likely that you have assumptions that are keeping you stuck in unproductive behaviors. Kegan and Lahey refer to these as “Big Assumptions.” For Sue, it was the belief that “If something falls through the cracks, I’d fail and wouldn’t be able to recover from it.” In Ajay’s case, it was his belief that “If I’m not there to help others, I won’t be needed and people will question my value.” For Maria, her assumption was “If I lose control, others will mess up, and the company will fail.” While these big assumptions felt real to each leader, these limiting beliefs were not likely 100% true and kept them stuck in old patterns that significantly contributed to their sense of overwhelm. By identifying and debunking these beliefs over time, they were able to broaden their previously contracted view of the world, which in turn allowed them to reduce their overwhelm and provided them with a greater sense of agency.​

While we may all feel overwhelmed from time to time in our demanding work and personal lives, employing the above strategies can help mitigate the frequency and extent to which we feel this way.