Worrying is fantasizing in the wrong direction

For many people, work takes up a large part of their day and week. They think about their approach, worry about things that are going wrong (or threaten to), and use their brain to think things through. It’s a different story when you’re so occupied with your work that you lose sight of other things, or no longer properly recharge your batteries. How do you deal with that in a smart way?

Here are five practical tips you can apply today, to give your brain more rest.

1. Empty your head as much as possible

Your head works just like a computer: the more tasks your brain has to handle at once, the slower it gets. So make sure that everything on your mind ends up in an external memory as much as possible. That can be very simple: a notebook in which you write down everything that comes to mind, or a digital task list where you keep track of your tasks. You can also choose a mind map, or a drawing that shows what’s on your mind.

You can also empty your head by talking about your worries with someone else. Sometimes it’s refreshing to share them with someone who isn’t involved in the content of your work, although talking to colleagues or a confidential adviser at work can also work well.

2. Look at what’s enjoyable

However difficult it is, however hard your work feels: look for what was good and enjoyable about your day. At the end of every working day, write down three positive things, and think broadly. For example, that tasty sandwich at lunch, the fact that your inbox dropped below 100 emails, or that you took a step forward in a difficult project.

3. Do a body scan every evening

If you worry a lot, you mostly live in your head. But the effect of worrying lands in your body: it creates tension in your shoulders, your neck, your breathing. To stay in touch with your body and release that tension, you can do a body scan every evening before going to sleep.

It helps you focus on your breathing and on what’s happening in your body. Fifteen minutes each evening helps you sleep more calmly and wake up more rested the next morning. You can find out how to do a body scan on the website of Mindful.

4. Distract your brain from what’s bothering you

When you keep going over things, especially in bed, you’re busy with something you probably can’t solve at that moment. The chance that you’ll come up with new options or insights is relatively small. What you can try is to distract your brain from the unpleasant thing you keep thinking about, with exercises that make you focus on something else: an alternative to counting sheep.

For example, go through the alphabet and try to come up with a series of words that belong together. An alphabet of animals, for instance: ant, bear, cobra, dove, eagle, fox, goose… An alphabet of things you can eat is another option, or an alphabet of place names.

This video shows you a different way of dealing with your thoughts at night:

https://www.linkedin.com/embed/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7510416473278840832?collapsed=1

5. Focus on your breathing

There are various breathing techniques that can help you calm down. You’ll find good examples on the websites of the NHS and Berkshire Healthcare NHS.

Don’t have the patience (or the calm…) to look into this? Then at least remember that breathing from your belly is better than breathing from your chest, and that it’s better to let each breath last a few seconds.

Work and rest are complementary: you need both to function well. If you’d like to read more about that, this blog post (in Dutch) is a good one.

As a bonus tip, I’d like to recommend the Digital Speed Reading Masterclass. Do you find it hard to filter and remember information? Then listen to this podcast about speed reading (in Dutch), in which I talk with René Hogenes about this topic. If, after taking in this new information, you’re considering this masterclass, I have a nice discount for you.

Work hard, and rest well!

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Are you interested in having your team work smarter, but not harder? A workshop or training Enjoy your Productivity gives you a unique opportunity to reflect on the way the team organizes their work, both on an individual level and on a team level.   

General information in Dutch may be found here. Please contact me for a tailormade workshop or training where both materials and instructions are in English.

If you’d benefit from personal attention for your own challenges, a coaching programme Enjoy your Productivity may be a smart choice. General information in Dutch may be found here. Please contact me for a first online meeting to get to know each other better. Naturally, this is without any obligation and free of charge.

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