LCN 015: Overworked & Overwhelmed? How to Maintain Balance

How do you maintain balance during times of overwork or overwhelm? That’s what this episode is all about. All in response to a listener question. Having spent the past two weeks in Intense Project-Completion Mode, I have some very recent experience to share!

Quick note: Create & Incubate Retreat is in one week! I have space for one work-study participant — save $300 of the price if you’re able to arrive by noon to help me set up the room. Contact me asap if you want to apply! 

Back in October 2014, Mandy left a comment on this blog post. In this podcast episode, I finally get around to answering it more fully.

I start this episode recapping (and expanding upon) the first part of the blog post. Then I answer this question from Mandy:

I love your self-love list. I do I do I do. When reading over the first half of this post, I couldn’t help but wonder how you manage those stretches that require intense effort and big to-do lists. Not the everyday pace. I’ve got an everyday pace that is similar to yours. I’m talking about the pace of pushing towards an exhibit (my life right now) or launching a new product, etc. The big projects that take a lot of time and energy and focus and sit on a deadline. How do you remain all zenned-out and balanced in those stretches of time?

Some key points in this episode:

• A life of overall balance, by definition, is going to include periods of extreme imbalance. (Click to tweet!)
• The importance of setting up your environment so you can create at the drop of a hat.
• Building exercise in (thanks to my treadmill desk!)
• The importance of having a support system.
• As always, the centrality of my Golden Formula: self-awareness + self-compassion = the key to everything good. (Click to tweet!)
• Remember, we’re all learning!

If you have any suggestions or tools that help you stay sane during periods of intense work, please leave them in the comments below!

Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

My Keys to Creative Flow/Rules for the Creative Sandbox poster

My Erase the Chaos Toolkit

Susan Piver’s Open Heart Project

My blog post about my treadmill desk

Episode 10, all about my morning ritual: LCN 010: Power Your Productivity with a Morning Ritual

Dr. Kristin Neff, author of Self-Compassion (aff)

The Great ClutterBust

Gumroad‘s Small Product Lab challenge

Thanks for Listening!

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