Calm Your Farm: 10 Strategies for Managing a Busy Workload

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If you're reading this, you might be thinking, "I'm just too busy to read an article about managing my busy!" If that's you, please keep reading because it's worth your time. I've recently had to revisit these strategies myself, and I know they work. Adopting even a few of these will give you back precious time and might just save your sanity and your health.

I speak from experience. I've juggled high-level management whilst raising four kids, caring for ageing parents, undergoing cancer treatment, and managing the demands of pets and farm animals. Staying on top of a busy workload is absolutely possible, and these are my top 10 strategies to help you calm your farm.

1. See Stress as Your Friend

Stress is a natural part of life, and a little can be a useful motivator. The key is learning how to manage stress so that it serves us, not the other way around. A great book on this topic is, The Upside of Stress by Kelly McGonigal, which shows how reframing stress can make us stronger, smarter and happier.

2. Get Back to Your Values

When the busy gets out of hand, I return to my values. What's truly important to me? This helps me prioritise what needs my attention. If you want to get clear on your top values, check out the free VIA Character Strengths Survey.

3. Re-establish Boundaries

When life gets busy, boundaries can blur. Re-establish them by scheduling focused worktime. A pair of noise-cancelling headphones can be a game changer for creating a distraction-free zone when you need to concentrate.

4. Nutrition

When things are busy, healthy eating can go out the window. Snacking on healthy, brain-boosting foods like nuts, berries, and seeds will help you work more effectively. For more information on the best foods and why, Brain Food by Dr Lisa Mosconi is a great place to start. For more information on our amazing brains, check out John Medina's book, Brain Rules for Ageing Well. John Medina also has Brain Rules for Baby for those with little ones.

5. Exercise

When we are feeling tired and stressed, physical activity is exactly the medicine we need. It doesn't have to be a marathon; even some gentle stretching on a yoga mat at home can make a world of difference. For more on this, check out, John Ratey's book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

6. Sleep

The big one in our modern age is shutting off electronic devices about two hours before bed. The blue light can confuse our natural body clocks. If you must be on a screen, a pair of blue-light blocking glasses can help reduce the impact on your sleep.

7. Gather Your People

When it's busy, we need people in our corner who cheer us on, champion us, and sometimes challenge us to stay true to what we say is important. Write a list of people in your corner and utilise their support. As a side note, if you're going through a challenging time with your health, explore using an app called Gather My Crew.

8. Get Comfortable with Change

We live in a fast-paced, ever-changing world. Instead of fighting change, lean into the challenge. Get comfortable with it. so that when it happens, you're less surprised and more open to the idea that change is just a part of life. When you get comfortable with change, it's much easier to model that for your teams and your kids and support them in doing the same.

9. Small Steps

Break things down into smaller, more manageable chunks. Seeing progress makes a huge difference to our sense of wellbeing and achievement. If you're a visual person, a good planner or to do-list notepad can make the steps visual and map your progression.

10. Humility and Honesty

Don't be afraid to ask for help if you need it. Honesty and vulnerability can be the starting point for building stronger, more collaborative teams where everyone plays an important role in getting the work done and stronger families. Be brave, delegate what you can, and then take your hands off it. Brene` Brown is one of my favourite authors on leading and vulnerability - Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way with Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Get yourself a copy.

If 10 strategies still feel overwhelming, try choosing just three to work on. Take a breath—you've got this!

Love,

Chelle ❤️

Special Educator Complex Supports and Family Support Specialist