15 Ways To Stop Overcommiting Your Time And Energy

In a world that celebrates nan hustle and grind, it’s easy to find yourself perpetually overcommitting your clip and power aliases connected menial tasks that ne'er move america toward nan life we want to live. It’s nary wonderment past that group unrecorded successful a authorities of perpetual overwhelm, burnout, stress, aliases anxiety.

The bully news is that you tin break nan shape of overcommitting yourself and return power of your life. Committing to yourself first and implementing nan tips beneath will thief you break retired of this aged shape and extremity nan anxiety, burnout, fatigue, and overwhelm you person been experiencing truthful you tin commencement surviving life connected your terms.

Like immoderate shape we consistently repeat, location will beryllium learning stages progressive successful breaking it. At first, you whitethorn find that you don’t moreover recognize you person overcommitted yourself until you’re already successful a authorities of overwhelm and frustration.

When this happens, return clip to fig retired wherever things went incorrect that led to nan overcommitment. From there, you tin use these tips to break nan cycle.

How To Stop Over Committing

1. Do a Time Audit

To get your time, energy, and commitments nether control, you request to fig retired wherever they are leaking.

To do this, drawback a notebook and group an siren each 15 minutes connected your phone. Use these check-ins to constitute down what you did successful nan fifteen-minute timeframe. Do this workout for a minimum of 3 to 7 days.

At nan extremity of each day, aliases week, return clip to bespeak connected really you walk your time. Try considering that each infinitesimal is $1 and whether that clip aliases “money” was good spent. From location you tin usage this workout to determine if a task is thing you should continue, extremity aliases delegate.

If you’ve ever heard nan communicative of nan accuracy coach filling nan jar pinch rocks you tin return this workout 1 measurement further and determine if each task is simply a rock, a pebble, aliases sand.

2. Know Your Limits

We person a finite magnitude of intelligence power each day. Because of this, we are constricted successful nan number of tasks we tin complete. Brian Tracy, 1 of nan world’s experts successful productivity and clip management, suggests that we are tin of completing 3 to six tasks each day.

You whitethorn find that location are days erstwhile you person little power and tin only complete 3 tasks. While different days you tin do more. Is location a shape to this energy flow?

Women, typically person little power during their menstrual rhythm and whitethorn complete less tasks. You whitethorn find that you person much power connected Mondays than you do connected Fridays aliases during nan first week of nan period than nan last.

When we commencement to salary attraction to our patterns and really our power flows, we tin beryllium amended prepared to cognize erstwhile to tie nan statement connected what we are tin of achieving.

3. Never Commit Right Away

Give yourself a buffer to see each factors earlier committing to anything. Politely fto nan personification cognize that you will get backmost to him wrong a time truthful that you tin measure yourself if you tin commit. This gives you:

• Time to see your different obligations
• See nan value of this commitment
• Prepare really you will respond

It’s important to springiness yourself this buffer if you made tons of decisions that day. Studies connected decision fatigue show that nan much decisions personification has to make during nan day, nan poorer value their decisions become. As our intelligence power for nan time decreases, truthful do our willpower and expertise to make decisions that are aligned pinch our goals and needs.

4. Overestimate nan Amount of Time Required

One of nan reasons group extremity up overcommitting is that they don’t see nan magnitude of clip it will return to complete a task. People whitethorn see that an assignment will past for an hr but neglect to see nan clip it takes to recreation to and from nan appointment, sitting successful traffic, aliases if personification is moving late.

If we overestimate nan clip required, we build a earthy buffer to let ourselves to woody pinch immoderate challenges that whitethorn arise. If a task takes little clip than we’ve allotted, you extremity up pinch other clip to perpetrate to yourself and believe much self-care.

5. Check successful With Your Gut

Be honest, really galore times person you committed to thing you really didn’t want to do? Then you extremity up not only overwhelmed because of overcommitting, but besides resentful towards yourself.

When you springiness yourself nan buffer earlier making a decision, you besides springiness yourself clip to cheque successful pinch yourself and ask:

• Is this thing I want to do?
• Is this thing I consciousness obligated to do?
• Do I person nan power to travel done and consciousness bully astir it?
• Will this committedness drain my power and lead to antagonistic emotions?

If you consciousness this committedness is much retired of responsibility aliases if it’s thing you really don’t want to do, opportunity no. It’s okay to opportunity nary to a committedness moreover if it will fto personification other down.

There is nary constituent successful sacrificing your intelligence wellness to make personification other happy.

6. Check successful With Your Goals & Values

• Is committing to this move you towards your goals aliases further away?
• Will it return clip and power that could beryllium utilized towards your goal?
• Is this committedness aligned pinch your values and beliefs?

If a committedness is acold from your goals, aliases retired of alignment pinch your values and beliefs, nan costs is overmuch much than conscionable time. The energetic toll connected you will support you stuck successful overcommitment and overwhelmed for a batch longer.

It tin besides lead to much vexation and resentment successful nan agelong tally if your goals are delayed.

7. Know Where You’re Going

To make intentional decisions, you request to cognize wherever you are going. Whether this is simply a short-term extremity aliases nan bequest you want to time off down successful your life, you can’t make intentional decisions without this information.

Without knowing nan extremity destination you’re shooting for, each opportunity becomes conscionable different shiny entity that could distract you.

8. Set Boundaries

Once you’ve wished whether you want to perpetrate aliases not, set nan boundaries for your clip and energy.

If you’ve decided not to commit, usage nan pursuing connection patterns to group a firm, yet respectful boundary:

• I admit this opportunity but now is not nan correct clip for maine to return connected an further workload.
• I respect your courageousness to inquire for thief connected this project, but my sheet is afloat and this whitethorn impact nan value of my work
• I work together it’s important to inquire for thief but agreeing to thief you would overwhelm me.

If you are agreeing to nan commitment, it’s still important to group boundaries connected your time, energy, and expectations.

9. Stick to Your Decision

Once you’ve made your decision, move connected from it. Contemplating whether you made nan correct determination aliases not only keeps you stuck expending further power connected nan committedness that you already decided to return aliases wasn’t a privilege for you.

Make your determination and move connected from it quickly.

10. Stop Keeping Score

In his book Influence, Robert Cialdini talks astir nan rule of reciprocity. This is erstwhile personification does thing for america aliases gives america something, and we consciousness obligated to do aliases springiness thing successful return. Often group extremity up overcommitting to thing retired of obligation.

However, this responsibility becomes an moreover bigger power drain erstwhile we statesman to acquisition resentment aliases different antagonistic emotions erstwhile overcommitting.

Instead of keeping people complete who you beryllium what, retrieve that returning a favour is champion done from a spot of having a genuine desire to thief personification aliases springiness them your clip and energy.

11. Know Your Priorities

The Pareto Principle tells america that 80% of nan output of a fixed business is wished by 20% of nan input. We tin usage this rule to our advantage erstwhile determining which tasks to perpetrate to and which to delegate aliases conscionable fto pass.

To usage this principle, inquire yourself which tasks will require 20% of your time, energy, aliases effort, but will output an 80% result. Prioritize those tasks and delegate nan remainder to debar overwhelm and overcommitment.

12. Reprogram Limiting Beliefs

Overcommitting is communal successful group who person taken connected traits of group pleasing aliases perfectionism. However, oftentimes these identities aliases beliefs go a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For example, if you judge that saying nary would wounded someone’s feelings, being incapable to supply nan afloat effort owed to exhaustion from overcommitting would apt wounded him anyway. Take immoderate clip to bespeak if location is simply a limiting belief aliases affectional coiled that is causing you to overcommit to things.

Once you place nan limiting belief, constitute down each nan grounds you person to beryllium nan limiting belief and nan grounds that disproves it.

13. Recognize Self Sabotage

Continuously overcommitting to things whitethorn beryllium a shape of self-sabotage that keeps you stuck successful a accent addiction loop. The shape of overcommitting stops you from moving toward your goals and dreams.

If you judge that you unconsciously sabotage yourself, meditate connected nan pursuing questions:

• What would hap if I stopped overcommitting myself?
• What americium I acrophobic will hap if I person nan clip and power to execute my goals?
• How tin I amended negociate my clip and energy?

14. Reduce Your Exposure to Ambivalent Friends

An ambivalent friend is personification commonly referred to arsenic a “frenemy.” A personification who is supportive and loving 1 time and highly captious and mean nan next. You ever consciousness nan request to locomotion connected eggshells pinch these people, and they time off you emotion downright exhausted.

Studies connected ambivalent friends person been shown to harm our health, including emotion much stressed, needing much sick days, and a bigger drain connected our affectional energy.

15. Prioritize Time for Rest

In today’s world, remainder is nan first point we fto spell of to fresh much tasks into our day. But we aren’t machines. Rest is simply a basal constituent for amended wellness and decision-making. Block retired nan clip you request for regular remainder earlier taking connected further commitments. This ensures that you tin afloat show up for nan tasks you’ve wished are important to your goals, values, and eventual success.

Conclusion

Overcommitting yourself is 1 of nan fastest ways you tin destruct your health, your success, and moreover your relationships and reputation. Implementing these tips into your life will thief you refocus your commitments connected nan astir important facet of your life – YOU!

Featured photograph credit: Nubelson Fernandes via unsplash.com