BUSINESS
Avoiding a mental meltdown
How to prioritize what's really important to you by Tom Borg This past December, I became frustrated
Photo by Eberhard Grossgasteiger on Unsplash
Consider a space shuttle on its way to the moon. If it’s off course during a majority of its flight, many, many midcourse corrections will be necessary if it’s ever going to reach its destination.
with the number of scheduled events I’d put on my calendar for the month. It seems that I had inadvertently overscheduled myself, not only with workrelated activities but also with social ones to be spent with friends and family. I felt like my head was in a vise, and I was having trouble breathing. Sound familiar?
In my case, knowing what my primary driving forces are - that is the top four motivators for me doing the things I do - I was able to begin making some choices.
UAC MAGAZINE | SUMMER 2019
Let me explain my process
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One of the testing instruments I’m certified to administer and use with many of my clients is called the Talent Insights Assessment. I’ve also taken it myself. When I did, it revealed 12 motivators that stimulate me to take action. These 12 motivators are further divided into three groups of four.
first set of four are my primary driving 4 The forces; they’re the reasons I do the things that are most important to me.
second set of four motivators are the 4 The situational driving forces; these are the
things that motivate me to take a particular action, depending on the situation at hand.
last set of four motivators consists of 4 The the indifferent driving forces, things that in
most situations don’t influence me as much.
The assessment revealed that one of my primary driving forces is “intentional.” This means I am driven to assist others to achieve specific purposes and not simply for the sake of being helpful or supportive. In other words, I like helping others but not just for the sake of feeling like a nice guy. I want to see some return on my energy and effort. It may be that the person follows through on my suggestions and takes some action that improves their situation. This boosts my self-esteem and reinforces my value to myself and to the person I’m assisting.
Putting the process to work Going back to the scenario I laid out in the beginning — overscheduling myself for the holiday season — I asked myself, “How did this happen?” The answer I heard from the voice within somewhat shocked me. It was so simple, yet so hard to implement. It boiled down to two basic principles:
1. I needed to evaluate which activities were truly a top priority for me.
2. I needed to say no to the activities that were not a high priority for me.
Let’s take a deeper look at this. When it comes to evaluating how much of a priority a business or personal activity should be, I had to ask myself three more questions to make it crystal clear which action I should take:
1.
Did the activity support my personal/ professional mission statement?
Was the activity I was considering truly a part of my long-term plan for professional and personal self-actualization?
2.
