Being overwhelmed causes your core values to surface. Oftentimes, these moments of overwhelm cause you to choose between competing core values. Sometimes the values that surface surprise you.
Maybe you didn’t know you valued that.
Maybe it was a value you didn’t want to have.
But have you ever felt overwhelmed? Truly exhausted? I mean completely overrun to the point that multiple areas of your life were “failing” as a result?
That was me in 2000. My wife was in pre-term labor at 28 weeks. I had a part time job and was in graduate school full time. My days consisted of waking up, either taking my wife to the hospital or visiting her there, going to work, then school, then back to the hospital for dinner. Hospital dinner… every day… for months. Maybe a little studying after dinner. Then, about 9pm I would go home to sleep and do it all over the next day. Each day. Every day. For 82 days in a row.
It was during those days that I had to choose between some very important goals in my life. The words of a professor in my first class of graduate school came back to me. Several years before, he had said, “For some of you to get an A in this class would be a failure. But for some of you, to not get an A in this class would be a failure.” It was at that point that graduating with a B average became my goal. Our class was made up of some people who came directly from university who were fully committed to this next educational step. It was a main goal and value for them. There were some older people in the class who were pursuing their dreams and had put some SMART goals [for more on what SMART goals are, check out our coaching packages] in place to make it happen. Classes were also made up of people like me, with jobs and family. School was not the only goal or value in our lives, but we still wanted to move forward toward our dreams. That semester, I failed not one, but two classes. I did excellent on my exams but had no time for research and papers.
In times like those, you must prioritize. The values that are at your core will determine what you focus on.
And so, not passing the class was the right decision. I had stayed true to my values. Family for me was a higher value than grades or a degree. If I had pursued the A to the detriment of my family, that would have been the failure that my professor had warned our class against. So, in this case, my “failing” grade in those classes was a huge life success. And at graduation I proudly walked the stage with a B average, in spite of those two failing grades.
Goal accomplished. Success.
Maybe you’re overwhelmed, exhausted, or facing challenges at that level. I started Endeavour
for you. Endeavour’s “Personal Strategy” or “Perspective” plans can help you to slow down so you can focus on reprioritizing your life and values. They can help you make sense out of the confusion that being overwhelmed brings. They can help you solidify your core values so that at the end of the day, you will have stayed true to you. These plans can help you come up with a new strategy that fits your new reality. You see, I want to help you succeed and thrive even through the difficulty. And we can, together.
If you want to read more on feeling overwhelmed, check out my other Blog called, Ways
Change Comes Lesson 3.
