I’ve gotta confess y’all, I’ve been stressing out a little lately. Life has got me crazy busy and it’s catching up. You know the feeling right….The one where it feels like you’re moving a thousand miles per hour while someone’s blasting a fire hose in your face with a pack of wolves chasing you. Ya…that’s what I’m feeling.

On Thursday mornings, I have a call with my assistant to make sure everything is in order. During our call today, I realized that it’s NOT. As she reviewed things with me, it became evident that there are a million things that need to be done in a very short period of time. Internally, I began to freak out a little. I say internally because I’m an ICU doc so it’s pretty tough to tell when I’m freaking out on the outside. Nonetheless, my assistant could sense it in my voice/tone somehow and she began to reassure me that we’d be okay and get everything done. Speaking with her brought me to one key message, and it’s my message for the next few weeks…Are you ready for it???/

ORGANIZE

That’s it. That’s the message. Organization is essential to success and as more duties crept into my life, I failed to organize them simultaneously.  Things were leading up to burnout.  And here’s the thing about burnout…often, you don’t know you’re burned out until your all the way burned out!   My assistant calmed my nerves rather quickly as she began to lay out how she would spend the next few days getting everything organized for us. By the end of the call, I felt at ease again.

This was a great lesson for me. An awesome reminder of the importance of being organized and prepared. We get nervous when we’re not ready. We’re not ready when we’re not organized. As you move into the upcoming months, I challenge you to take a step back and get organized before jumping in. After that, say a little prayer and get back at it! It will greatly calm your nerves.  

What are some cool things you do to deal with stress?  Please share.

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