4 words to help you stop feeling behind
And get off the anxiety hamster wheel 🐹🎡❌
If you’re rushing through your to-do list right now…
And constantly feeling behind and like you can never quite catch up with everything you’re supposed to do…
I want you to look at the current thing you’re doing.
And I want you to say these 4 words:
“This is real work.”
One of the biggest reasons I feel behind is because my brain automatically classifies some things as “real work” and some things as “not real work.”
According to my brain’s unconscious classification system…
Emails, messages, meetings, admin, random stuff that pops up during the day — that’s not real work.
Long blocks of time where I do deep strategic thinking and move the ball forward on important initiatives — that’s real work.
And when I believe this unconscious classification…
I spend 80% of my day rushing through the “not real work.”
And feeling frustrated and annoyed that there’s never enough time to do “the real work.”
But guess what?
I think this unconscious classification system is totally wrong.
I think it’s all real work.
Emails? Real work.
Meetings? Real work.
Cooking dinner? Real work.
Ordering that thing off Amazon? Real work.
Coordinating your calendar? Real work.
Rest? You better believe that’s real work.
So when you make the choice about what to focus your time on, moment to moment…
Don’t see it as a win/lose choice between “real work” and “all the crap that keeps me from doing real work.” ✅ ❌
See it as a win/win choice between “one flavor of real work” and “another flavor of real work.” ✅ ✅
Because here’s the thing about feeling “behind”…
“Behind” isn’t a reality.
“Behind” is a mental orientation.
It’s a mental orientation of constantly looking at the thing you’re supposed to be doing, that you’re not currently doing…
Which kicks off fight-or-flight and keeps you running on the hamster wheel of anxiety all day long…
Instead of settling into the thing you’re actually doing, and not worrying about anything else…
Which kicks off flow and lets you sink into that timeless, frictionless space where everything feels easy and fun, AND you do your best work.
Making the switch from fight-or-flight to flow is exactly what I help my clients learn how to do.
Because learning how to toggle that switch in your brain is the #1 most useful skill you can learn in life.
Come talk to me to experience exactly how it works.
You can drop by anytime for a no-strings-attached coffee chat ☕️
It’s not a sales pitch.
It’s just an opportunity for us to discuss whatever’s on your mind…
And I’ll offer some one-off coaching and brainstorming about your situation.
Or you can book a consult call, and we can map out a full coaching engagement.
So we can work together on toggling that “fight-or-flight to flow” switch in your brain, week after week.
And you can learn how to do it in your real life, on-demand, for the rest of your life.
What my clients have to say…
“I was worried about the cost. But every single session was well worth it.
Coaching with Pooja is the best investment I made last year, by far.
And I made a lot of investments last year — we spend a lot of money on a lot of different things to try to improve our life.
And if I had to go back and redo last year, I would have invested in coaching sooner.”
—Client | Head of Business Development at MedTech Company
I help high-stress high achievers build their careers around flow.
This requires…
Internally, learning how to access your flow no matter what’s going on around you (or inside you)
Externally, designing a career strategy that angles your flow at a high-priority problem that someone will pay you good money to solve
Tactically, navigating the transition from the role you’re in to the role you want
Today’s article focused on #1.
For more writing on all 3 of these, check out my table of contents.
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