What’s on your plate?
Have you ever stopped to think about all the things that you have to do everyday?
Are you utterly exhausted?
Do you feel constantly stressed?
Have you ever considered that you may be able to let some of these things go?
Do you ever reach out and ask for help?
One of the keys things we need to to if we want to take care of our wellbeing is to stop and think about what we already do.
Quite often, we end up doing things that aren’t necessary OR we say yes to things that we don’t want to do. We are also very good at just accepting and getting on with the to do list without actually stopping and questioning if we really need to be doing all those things!
But what if I told you that you do have some control over all the things you have to do? Would you jump at the chance of reducing your list of things to do? I’m sure you would!
Here’s the thing, you do have the control, it’s just that we get so caught up in everything we don’t take a minute to think about all the things we are doing!
How do you let go?
The first thing you need to do is to list everything that is currently ‘On your Plate’. You’ll find some instructions and a template to use below.
The listing part is quite easy and can be quite an eye opener when you see everything written down in front of you.
The next steps aren’t so easy because these involve letting things go.
Here’s what you’ll probably find:
1) There will be things that you do have to do which will have to stay on your plate no matter what.
2) That there are a few key things that you can see on your list straight away that you can get easily get rid of.
3) That there are things that you can delegate to others.
4) That there are things that you can ask for help with.
I’m not going to lie, it’s not an easy exercise to complete because, as women, we are not very good at asking for help! It may also be that you don’t have the support network available.
My personal experience…
Before you make a start I just want to share my own personal experience of completing this exercise. I completed it many times and just actually writing things down made me feel better. However, I didn’t execute the plan fully.
First of all, I am hopeless at asking for help, I’m very independent and tell myself ‘I can manage’ and I’m failing if I ask for help.
Secondly I wasn’t brave enough to have that ‘conversation’ with my family about needing more help. Nothing to do with the fact that I couldn’t approach them, it was more to do with the fact that I felt I was making a drama about nothing.
I have revisited this exercise on a number of occasions and done exactly the same things as I did the first time round! However, fast forward a few years and a few major burnouts I have finally tackled this and have made great progress!
Don’t be like me, don’t keep putting it off. Take it from me when I say I wish I had done something sooner!
If you need any help with this then please shout out in the Facebook group as I’m sure others would benefit from the help too.
INSTRUCTIONS & Template
You can download the instructions and template below so you have them handy to work through at your own pace.
What’s on your plate INSTRUCTIONS