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Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative
Leverage mindful awareness and intention to achieve better outcomes Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative offers practical insights for the executive, manager or professional who feels like their RPM is maxed out in the red zone. By making the concepts and practices of mindfulness simple, practical and applicable, this book offers actionable hope for today's overworked and overwhelmed professional.
New research shows that the smartphone equipped professional is connected to work 72 hours a week. Forty eight percent of Americans report that their stress level is up and that the number one source of stress is the job pressure of a 24/7 world.
What's the alternative? Top leadership coach and educator Scott Eblin offers one in Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative. While mindfulness is one of the Top Ten Trends for 2014 and Beyond, many professionals think it's just too hard to give it a try. In this book, Eblin shows that mindfulness that makes a difference doesn't require meditating like a Buddhist monk.
Overworked and Overwhelmed is a handbook for more mindful work and living that offers:
Must know mindfulness basics that today's professional needs to thrive in a 24/7 world. Inspiring examples of mindfulness in action from dozens of leaders ranging from a U.S. Coast Guard Commandant to the CEO of Hilton Worldwide. A self assessment for readers to understand how they perform at their best. Simple routines to reduce stress and sustain peak performance. A personal planning framework for creating the outcomes that matter most at home, at work and in the community. Even small increases in mindfulness can lead to big changes in productivity and quality of life for the overworked and overwhelmed professional. Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative is a guide for doing just that.
New research shows that the smartphone equipped professional is connected to work 72 hours a week. Forty eight percent of Americans report that their stress level is up and that the number one source of stress is the job pressure of a 24/7 world.
What's the alternative? Top leadership coach and educator Scott Eblin offers one in Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative. While mindfulness is one of the Top Ten Trends for 2014 and Beyond, many professionals think it's just too hard to give it a try. In this book, Eblin shows that mindfulness that makes a difference doesn't require meditating like a Buddhist monk.
Overworked and Overwhelmed is a handbook for more mindful work and living that offers:
Must know mindfulness basics that today's professional needs to thrive in a 24/7 world. Inspiring examples of mindfulness in action from dozens of leaders ranging from a U.S. Coast Guard Commandant to the CEO of Hilton Worldwide. A self assessment for readers to understand how they perform at their best. Simple routines to reduce stress and sustain peak performance. A personal planning framework for creating the outcomes that matter most at home, at work and in the community. Even small increases in mindfulness can lead to big changes in productivity and quality of life for the overworked and overwhelmed professional. Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative is a guide for doing just that.
262 pages, Hardcover
Published September 26, 2014
52 people are currently reading
523 people want to read
About the author
Scott Eblin
8 books15 followersScott Eblin is the co-founder and president of The Eblin Group, a professional development firm committed to helping executives and managers improve their leadership presence by being fully present. As an executive coach, speaker and author, Scott works with senior and rising leaders in some of the world’s best known and regarded organizations.
Scott is the author of two books. Business Book Review described his first book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success as a “fascinating read” that “is full of potentially career-saving advice.” New York Times best selling author Marshall Goldsmith says Scott’s newest book Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative “will fundamentally change how you live each day.”
As a former Fortune 500 executive himself, Scott knows the demanding expectations and challenges his clients face. He coaches busy, successful leaders in what he calls the “school of real life” to help them identify the strengths they can build on along with the vital few opportunities that will help them be even better. Scott is an innovator in the field of coaching who has worked with hundreds of clients in individual and group engagements that yield measurable and significant improvements in leadership effectiveness.
Scott is an honors graduate of Davidson College, holds a masters degree from Harvard and has earned a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University where he is also on the program faculty. He is also a Registered Yoga Teacher.
Scott is the author of two books. Business Book Review described his first book, The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success as a “fascinating read” that “is full of potentially career-saving advice.” New York Times best selling author Marshall Goldsmith says Scott’s newest book Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative “will fundamentally change how you live each day.”
As a former Fortune 500 executive himself, Scott knows the demanding expectations and challenges his clients face. He coaches busy, successful leaders in what he calls the “school of real life” to help them identify the strengths they can build on along with the vital few opportunities that will help them be even better. Scott is an innovator in the field of coaching who has worked with hundreds of clients in individual and group engagements that yield measurable and significant improvements in leadership effectiveness.
Scott is an honors graduate of Davidson College, holds a masters degree from Harvard and has earned a Certificate in Leadership Coaching from Georgetown University where he is also on the program faculty. He is also a Registered Yoga Teacher.
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July 31, 2018
If your like me the title, Overworked and overwhelmed, by itself is very catchy. It reflects the lives of many workers who live in a world of constant change with expectations to continue to produce results. For many this a result of prior successes and the current state of affairs in a post recession work environment (as noted in the book).
The core basis of this book is about avoiding the negative results of being overworked and overwhelmed by living in a mindfulness alternative. That alternative is defined as being aware and intentional in all four key domains of life physical, mental, relational, and spiritual in all three aspects of life including home, work, and community.
The credibility to speak on the advice provided in this book comes from professional experiences of author, Scott Eblin, as a former executive and now executive coach. In addition, it's backed by a powerful and lesson filled testimony. That testimony along with the practical advice on healthy routines for each domain makes this a great read to live a fulfilling life with impact.
A pretty easy read with quick chapters to be read at your own pace. I try to do a chapter a day and found that easy to do. Their is a lot to unpack depending on area of focus. While I read at a steady pace I paused at various points for more reflection. You may do the same if something resonates. I see more practical use being able to reference and reread portions I choose to focus on as a follow up to certain topics. I would suggest similar approach if you choose to read it.
The core basis of this book is about avoiding the negative results of being overworked and overwhelmed by living in a mindfulness alternative. That alternative is defined as being aware and intentional in all four key domains of life physical, mental, relational, and spiritual in all three aspects of life including home, work, and community.
The credibility to speak on the advice provided in this book comes from professional experiences of author, Scott Eblin, as a former executive and now executive coach. In addition, it's backed by a powerful and lesson filled testimony. That testimony along with the practical advice on healthy routines for each domain makes this a great read to live a fulfilling life with impact.
A pretty easy read with quick chapters to be read at your own pace. I try to do a chapter a day and found that easy to do. Their is a lot to unpack depending on area of focus. While I read at a steady pace I paused at various points for more reflection. You may do the same if something resonates. I see more practical use being able to reference and reread portions I choose to focus on as a follow up to certain topics. I would suggest similar approach if you choose to read it.
April 18, 2021
Many professionals feel burned out due to increased responsibilities at work, a corporate downsizing or restructuring, the constant onslaught of technology, or other aspects of modern life. Leadership coach Scott Eblin shows busy executives how to develop mindfulness through awareness and intention. He created the “Life GPS” model to teach managers and professionals how to bring out their best at home, at work and in the community. He suggests routines to improve your physical, mental and spiritual health and your relationships through exercise, meditation, reading, connecting with others and thinking about the big picture. The benefits of being fully present include improved health, decreased stress and stronger relationships. getAbstract recommends his advice to harried people seeking better work-life balance.
Takeaways:
Many professionals exist in a chronic fight-or-flight stressful state.
Developing mindfulness can relieve stress, boost productivity and improve your health.
Mindfulness equals your awareness combined with your intention.
The “Life GPS” model helps you recognize “the characteristics and behaviors that reflect your “best version of yourself.”
Life GPS helps you identify your peak performance at home, at work and in the community.
Effectively managing your time eases your sense of being overwhelmed.
Identify and pursue your life’s purpose and develop strong relationships to help you achieve it.
Create easy-to-implement routines that nourish your physical, mental, relational and spiritual health.
Meditate to improve your mental clarity and relieve stress.
Stick with your routines while granting yourself permission to make occasional mistakes.
Summary:
If You Feel “Overworked and Overwhelmed”
John owns a consulting business. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, he worked a 17-hour day. His activities included navigating through tough LA morning traffic, making a conference call to Denmark while driving, attending an all-day meeting, dropping off a client at the airport, participating in an evening conference call, eating dinner and preparing for the next day by reading emails before finally going to bed.
You have permission to quit seeking that holy grail of perfect balance.
Increasingly, managers and professionals report their lives seem out of control due to economic pressures and to ever-increasing use of technology. As downsized corporations “learned how to do more with less,” their surviving employees faced the “blessing and the curse” of “the rise of the smartphone.” Smartphones can be fun, but they make it, first, possible and, then, nearly necessary to work around the clock. A survey of executives, managers and professionals (EMPs) found that a typical smartphone-wielding EMP “is interacting with work” 72 hours of each 168-hour week, or about 43% of the time. Factor in sleeping, eating and grooming, and EMPs have only 40 hours a week – about 24% of their time – for other activities or leisure.
Cultivating Mindfulness
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which combines meditation and yoga to help relieve patients’ chronic pain and anxiety. More than 200 hospitals and thousands of organizations worldwide have adopted the principles of the MBSR program. Develop awareness and act on intention to reduce stress and feel less overwhelmed.
Instead of seeking balance, try finding a rhythm instead. By focusing on rhythm, you acknowledge there are times when your pace is going to be much more oriented to work, home, or community and...times when the counterpoints of the other aspects of your life come to the fore.
Mindfulness combines being aware and focusing your intent; the formula is “mindfulness = awareness + intention.” Awareness includes being conscious of the internal and external stimuli that interfere with your thinking. “Mental chatter, or intrinsic interference, is a fact of the human condition. The trick is to recognize it when it’s happening.” Becoming aware of your mental chatter is the first step toward curbing it.
Recognize what [your boundaries] need to be for you to consistently show up at your best at home, at work and in the community.
Lack of awareness is a barrier to mindfulness, as is distraction, often the result of technology. Research from the University of California at Irvine indicates that interruptions occur every 11 minutes at work and that it takes about 25 minutes to get back to work after an interruption.
Fight, Flight, Rest and Digest
Henry Lescault spent four years as an undercover police officer in Massachusetts. Right before transferring to a new job, he survived a difficult assignment. He had broken a cardinal rule: Don’t go undercover in your hometown, even to bust up a drug ring. One night when he wasn’t wearing a wire, a suspicious dealer confronted him about being a cop. Lescault remained calm and denied it. His cool response saved his life.
Once you have boundaries, let other people know what they are.
Lescault had activated his “parasympathetic nervous system,” which regulates the body, including its “rest and digest” response. The sympathetic nervous system” (the part of the “autonomic nervous system that governs the fight-or-flight response) is your accelerator and the parasympathetic nervous system is your brakes. You must balance them.
One of the quickest ways to end up feeling overworked and overwhelmed (and burned out, resentful and depleted) is to mindlessly say yes to every request.
Too many professionals step on the gas all the time and, thus, end up in a chronic fight-or-flight stressful state. Keeping the sympathetic nervous system constantly activated adversely affects a person’s health and can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, insomnia, weight gain, infections and cancer. If you learn to put yourself into a more relaxed state, you can reverse the damage wreaked by chronic stress.
“Life GPS”
Author Scott Eblin and his wife Diane created the “Life Goals Planning System” (called Life GPS) even before the popularity of directional GPS systems. Life GPS recognizes “the characteristics and behaviors that reflect how you are when you’re showing up as the best version of your self.” This includes peak performance in your physical, mental, relational and spiritual health. To begin identifying and codifying your peak, write a one-page reflection on how being at your best affects your results at home, at work and in your community.
There will always be extrinsic interference over which you have little or no control.
Put Life GPS into action by establishing routines to promote good physical, mental, relational and spiritual health. Physical health, including your energy and stamina, provides a foundation for the other categories. Mental health means keeping your brain strong, which supports making good choices. Your relationships with family, friends and co-workers affect your mindfulness. Spirituality keeps you focused on the bigger picture: “What am I here on Earth to really do?” A small change across one domain creates a positive ripple effect in others.
Life is just not that linear. By the time you have enough information to solve for 100%, the variables will have changed anyway.
The Life GPS model asks you to define how you are at your best, which routines reinforce your being your best and what results you want. Find a quiet place to contemplate the factors that help you reach your peak. Think back over the last 6 to 12 months. How did you feel when you were at your peak at home, at work and in your community? Your list will be personal and unique; don’t include characteristics you think “should” be there. There are no right answers.
Handling Interference
Yoga practitioners believe that “life force” – in Sanskrit, prana – freely flows through your body when you’re at your best. Three factors interfere with being at your best: “kinks in the hose, too much of a good thing” and “playing against your strengths.”
People who have at least one friend at the office are, on average, seven times more engaged in their work.
Your brain is hardwired to respond negatively to anything it perceives as a threat; this is the “negativity bias.” To handle it, “name it and claim it.” Identify when you begin a negative internal monologue. Give that process a name, any name, and when you start to berate yourself, recognize that you’ve embraced a negative process. Say aloud: “Oh, that’s (insert name here).” This will help you recognize that the content of your monologue is secondary to your habit of indulging in it.
Pay attention to what makes you feel good or bad in the physical, mental, relational and spiritual domains, and adjust your future actions accordingly.
Your strengths can become weaknesses if you hoard opportunities and don’t delegate. Let your team shine instead of doing everything yourself. “Working too hard to be good at stuff that you’re just not wired to be good at” is the third factor that hampers being at your best. As you challenge yourself to succeed, be aware of your true strengths and weaknesses.
Setting Routines for Mind and Body
Effective time management fuels mindfulness. Investigate how you spend your time. Find your rhythm, so you can do your work when you’re at your peak energy. Some executives process their most important work first and tackle emails and the like later in the day. Others set specific hours for mundane tasks. High-capacity professionals schedule time for unfiltered thinking to spark creativity, say no with ease and are clear about their boundaries.
As they say in the military, no plan survives first contact. Life is a process of adjustments.
A healthy body supports a healthy mind, active spirit and good relationships. Simply moving around decreases stress hormones, refreshes thinking, and makes you more productive and confident. The best movement routine is “the one you’re likely to do.” Practice your physical routine with others. Eat healthier to develop better nutrition habits.
There are best practices and then there’s dogma. Pay attention to the best practices and ditch the dogma.
Don’t neglect sleeping. Medical experts recommend seven to eight hours a night, but most Americans get less than seven. For improved sleep, go to bed and wake up at scheduled times, even on weekends. Limit food and drink within two or three hours of going to sleep. As bedtime nears, avoid electronic screens and don’t work out. “Keep your bedroom quiet, cool and dark.”
Building Strong Relationships
When your interactions with others suffer because you’re not fully present, your work also suffers, your health declines and “your humanity” wanes. A meta-analysis of 148 different studies examining the social habits of more than 300,000 people worldwide found that “having weak relationships is more harmful than not exercising, twice as bad as being obese, and about as bad as being an alcoholic or smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.”
Routines of mindfulness can help keep you from getting sick...or help you greatly improve your overall well-being if you already have a health issue.
To build deeper relationships, become a better listener. Identify your default listening style; is it “transient, transactional” or “transformational”? Transient listening occurs when you’re in chronic flight-or-fight mode, distracted or thinking about your next move. Transactional listening occurs when you listen just enough to get things done. Transformational listening occurs when you develop real connections with other people. If you are distracted or impatient, you might be a transient listener. If you accomplish your goals, you may be a transactional listener.
Establishing a routine of responsiveness – even if it’s just to say, ‘I got your message and will get back with you later in the week,’ is a classic example of treating others the way you’d like to be treated.
Transformational listening means observing nonverbal cues and recognizing the value of silence, which gives you time to think. To increase your engagement, build workplace friendships and set up times to be with your friends or co-workers.
Being constantly negative and self-critical will disrupt your relationships. Instead, try to see “what’s going right.” Make time for the important people in your life. One workshop participant said that while waiting for his family’s flight to take off for their vacation, his 10-year-old daughter asked, “Daddy, can I see your BlackBerry?” When he gave it to her, she put it in her bag and said, “You can have that when we get back, Daddy.” Despite momentary panic, he made it through the week without checking his phone. This led to the best family vacation he’d ever had.
“Discerning Your Purpose”
Spirituality means different things to different people, but basically, it relates to exploring “your life’s purpose.” Your spiritual routines can be religious or not; they can incorporate different paths or perspectives, or none at all. But your purpose cuts across all aspects of your life. Develop your spiritual side using any combination of reflection and gratitude, visual focal points, reading, journaling, and regular prayer or meditation. Senior executive Kaye Foster Cheek starts her day by opening her eyes in bed, acknowledging her breathing and saying, “Phew, another day. What a gift. Thank you for this breath.” If focusing on breathing itself is difficult for you, try repeating a soothing word or phrase as an alternative. Experiment with different reflection routines to see what works best for you. Finding the right fit can take years, so be patient.
Perseverance on Your Journey
Stay with your routines, but give yourself permission to make mistakes. It may take time to analyze which routines work best for your natural rhythms. When in doubt, “pick the routines that are easy to do and likely to make a difference.” Schedule routines that reinforce your most important goals. Recruit your friends to help you.
Your Life GPS will offer directions once you “write your answers to the three big components – how you are at your best, the routines that reinforce that and the outcomes that you hope for.” If you miss a day, or a week or more of an important routine, don’t worry. Let go of your guilt and move on. Don’t add too many routines at once. Scale back if necessary.
Start by creating mindfulness at home. Think about the life you want to create with the people you love. Then, realize what success at work means. True transformation will take more of your time, energy and attention. Consider how your routines affect your community at large. For example, Patrick, a financial-services executive, spends one day a year with other people from his company providing essential services for 700 homeless people. Volunteers use a local community center to set up stations for health services, including mental health support, dental and vision care, housing assistance, haircuts, a food pantry, and more. Your communities include those who share your interests, such as faith, sports, hobbies, and so forth.
Take Three Deep Breaths
Whenever you need to clear your mind, take three deep breaths. Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. Regular deep-breathing routines improve cognitive functions and reduce stress. Take a few minutes each day to focus on breathing.
Takeaways:
Many professionals exist in a chronic fight-or-flight stressful state.
Developing mindfulness can relieve stress, boost productivity and improve your health.
Mindfulness equals your awareness combined with your intention.
The “Life GPS” model helps you recognize “the characteristics and behaviors that reflect your “best version of yourself.”
Life GPS helps you identify your peak performance at home, at work and in the community.
Effectively managing your time eases your sense of being overwhelmed.
Identify and pursue your life’s purpose and develop strong relationships to help you achieve it.
Create easy-to-implement routines that nourish your physical, mental, relational and spiritual health.
Meditate to improve your mental clarity and relieve stress.
Stick with your routines while granting yourself permission to make occasional mistakes.
Summary:
If You Feel “Overworked and Overwhelmed”
John owns a consulting business. On a recent trip to Los Angeles, he worked a 17-hour day. His activities included navigating through tough LA morning traffic, making a conference call to Denmark while driving, attending an all-day meeting, dropping off a client at the airport, participating in an evening conference call, eating dinner and preparing for the next day by reading emails before finally going to bed.
You have permission to quit seeking that holy grail of perfect balance.
Increasingly, managers and professionals report their lives seem out of control due to economic pressures and to ever-increasing use of technology. As downsized corporations “learned how to do more with less,” their surviving employees faced the “blessing and the curse” of “the rise of the smartphone.” Smartphones can be fun, but they make it, first, possible and, then, nearly necessary to work around the clock. A survey of executives, managers and professionals (EMPs) found that a typical smartphone-wielding EMP “is interacting with work” 72 hours of each 168-hour week, or about 43% of the time. Factor in sleeping, eating and grooming, and EMPs have only 40 hours a week – about 24% of their time – for other activities or leisure.
Cultivating Mindfulness
In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which combines meditation and yoga to help relieve patients’ chronic pain and anxiety. More than 200 hospitals and thousands of organizations worldwide have adopted the principles of the MBSR program. Develop awareness and act on intention to reduce stress and feel less overwhelmed.
Instead of seeking balance, try finding a rhythm instead. By focusing on rhythm, you acknowledge there are times when your pace is going to be much more oriented to work, home, or community and...times when the counterpoints of the other aspects of your life come to the fore.
Mindfulness combines being aware and focusing your intent; the formula is “mindfulness = awareness + intention.” Awareness includes being conscious of the internal and external stimuli that interfere with your thinking. “Mental chatter, or intrinsic interference, is a fact of the human condition. The trick is to recognize it when it’s happening.” Becoming aware of your mental chatter is the first step toward curbing it.
Recognize what [your boundaries] need to be for you to consistently show up at your best at home, at work and in the community.
Lack of awareness is a barrier to mindfulness, as is distraction, often the result of technology. Research from the University of California at Irvine indicates that interruptions occur every 11 minutes at work and that it takes about 25 minutes to get back to work after an interruption.
Fight, Flight, Rest and Digest
Henry Lescault spent four years as an undercover police officer in Massachusetts. Right before transferring to a new job, he survived a difficult assignment. He had broken a cardinal rule: Don’t go undercover in your hometown, even to bust up a drug ring. One night when he wasn’t wearing a wire, a suspicious dealer confronted him about being a cop. Lescault remained calm and denied it. His cool response saved his life.
Once you have boundaries, let other people know what they are.
Lescault had activated his “parasympathetic nervous system,” which regulates the body, including its “rest and digest” response. The sympathetic nervous system” (the part of the “autonomic nervous system that governs the fight-or-flight response) is your accelerator and the parasympathetic nervous system is your brakes. You must balance them.
One of the quickest ways to end up feeling overworked and overwhelmed (and burned out, resentful and depleted) is to mindlessly say yes to every request.
Too many professionals step on the gas all the time and, thus, end up in a chronic fight-or-flight stressful state. Keeping the sympathetic nervous system constantly activated adversely affects a person’s health and can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, insomnia, weight gain, infections and cancer. If you learn to put yourself into a more relaxed state, you can reverse the damage wreaked by chronic stress.
“Life GPS”
Author Scott Eblin and his wife Diane created the “Life Goals Planning System” (called Life GPS) even before the popularity of directional GPS systems. Life GPS recognizes “the characteristics and behaviors that reflect how you are when you’re showing up as the best version of your self.” This includes peak performance in your physical, mental, relational and spiritual health. To begin identifying and codifying your peak, write a one-page reflection on how being at your best affects your results at home, at work and in your community.
There will always be extrinsic interference over which you have little or no control.
Put Life GPS into action by establishing routines to promote good physical, mental, relational and spiritual health. Physical health, including your energy and stamina, provides a foundation for the other categories. Mental health means keeping your brain strong, which supports making good choices. Your relationships with family, friends and co-workers affect your mindfulness. Spirituality keeps you focused on the bigger picture: “What am I here on Earth to really do?” A small change across one domain creates a positive ripple effect in others.
Life is just not that linear. By the time you have enough information to solve for 100%, the variables will have changed anyway.
The Life GPS model asks you to define how you are at your best, which routines reinforce your being your best and what results you want. Find a quiet place to contemplate the factors that help you reach your peak. Think back over the last 6 to 12 months. How did you feel when you were at your peak at home, at work and in your community? Your list will be personal and unique; don’t include characteristics you think “should” be there. There are no right answers.
Handling Interference
Yoga practitioners believe that “life force” – in Sanskrit, prana – freely flows through your body when you’re at your best. Three factors interfere with being at your best: “kinks in the hose, too much of a good thing” and “playing against your strengths.”
People who have at least one friend at the office are, on average, seven times more engaged in their work.
Your brain is hardwired to respond negatively to anything it perceives as a threat; this is the “negativity bias.” To handle it, “name it and claim it.” Identify when you begin a negative internal monologue. Give that process a name, any name, and when you start to berate yourself, recognize that you’ve embraced a negative process. Say aloud: “Oh, that’s (insert name here).” This will help you recognize that the content of your monologue is secondary to your habit of indulging in it.
Pay attention to what makes you feel good or bad in the physical, mental, relational and spiritual domains, and adjust your future actions accordingly.
Your strengths can become weaknesses if you hoard opportunities and don’t delegate. Let your team shine instead of doing everything yourself. “Working too hard to be good at stuff that you’re just not wired to be good at” is the third factor that hampers being at your best. As you challenge yourself to succeed, be aware of your true strengths and weaknesses.
Setting Routines for Mind and Body
Effective time management fuels mindfulness. Investigate how you spend your time. Find your rhythm, so you can do your work when you’re at your peak energy. Some executives process their most important work first and tackle emails and the like later in the day. Others set specific hours for mundane tasks. High-capacity professionals schedule time for unfiltered thinking to spark creativity, say no with ease and are clear about their boundaries.
As they say in the military, no plan survives first contact. Life is a process of adjustments.
A healthy body supports a healthy mind, active spirit and good relationships. Simply moving around decreases stress hormones, refreshes thinking, and makes you more productive and confident. The best movement routine is “the one you’re likely to do.” Practice your physical routine with others. Eat healthier to develop better nutrition habits.
There are best practices and then there’s dogma. Pay attention to the best practices and ditch the dogma.
Don’t neglect sleeping. Medical experts recommend seven to eight hours a night, but most Americans get less than seven. For improved sleep, go to bed and wake up at scheduled times, even on weekends. Limit food and drink within two or three hours of going to sleep. As bedtime nears, avoid electronic screens and don’t work out. “Keep your bedroom quiet, cool and dark.”
Building Strong Relationships
When your interactions with others suffer because you’re not fully present, your work also suffers, your health declines and “your humanity” wanes. A meta-analysis of 148 different studies examining the social habits of more than 300,000 people worldwide found that “having weak relationships is more harmful than not exercising, twice as bad as being obese, and about as bad as being an alcoholic or smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.”
Routines of mindfulness can help keep you from getting sick...or help you greatly improve your overall well-being if you already have a health issue.
To build deeper relationships, become a better listener. Identify your default listening style; is it “transient, transactional” or “transformational”? Transient listening occurs when you’re in chronic flight-or-fight mode, distracted or thinking about your next move. Transactional listening occurs when you listen just enough to get things done. Transformational listening occurs when you develop real connections with other people. If you are distracted or impatient, you might be a transient listener. If you accomplish your goals, you may be a transactional listener.
Establishing a routine of responsiveness – even if it’s just to say, ‘I got your message and will get back with you later in the week,’ is a classic example of treating others the way you’d like to be treated.
Transformational listening means observing nonverbal cues and recognizing the value of silence, which gives you time to think. To increase your engagement, build workplace friendships and set up times to be with your friends or co-workers.
Being constantly negative and self-critical will disrupt your relationships. Instead, try to see “what’s going right.” Make time for the important people in your life. One workshop participant said that while waiting for his family’s flight to take off for their vacation, his 10-year-old daughter asked, “Daddy, can I see your BlackBerry?” When he gave it to her, she put it in her bag and said, “You can have that when we get back, Daddy.” Despite momentary panic, he made it through the week without checking his phone. This led to the best family vacation he’d ever had.
“Discerning Your Purpose”
Spirituality means different things to different people, but basically, it relates to exploring “your life’s purpose.” Your spiritual routines can be religious or not; they can incorporate different paths or perspectives, or none at all. But your purpose cuts across all aspects of your life. Develop your spiritual side using any combination of reflection and gratitude, visual focal points, reading, journaling, and regular prayer or meditation. Senior executive Kaye Foster Cheek starts her day by opening her eyes in bed, acknowledging her breathing and saying, “Phew, another day. What a gift. Thank you for this breath.” If focusing on breathing itself is difficult for you, try repeating a soothing word or phrase as an alternative. Experiment with different reflection routines to see what works best for you. Finding the right fit can take years, so be patient.
Perseverance on Your Journey
Stay with your routines, but give yourself permission to make mistakes. It may take time to analyze which routines work best for your natural rhythms. When in doubt, “pick the routines that are easy to do and likely to make a difference.” Schedule routines that reinforce your most important goals. Recruit your friends to help you.
Your Life GPS will offer directions once you “write your answers to the three big components – how you are at your best, the routines that reinforce that and the outcomes that you hope for.” If you miss a day, or a week or more of an important routine, don’t worry. Let go of your guilt and move on. Don’t add too many routines at once. Scale back if necessary.
Start by creating mindfulness at home. Think about the life you want to create with the people you love. Then, realize what success at work means. True transformation will take more of your time, energy and attention. Consider how your routines affect your community at large. For example, Patrick, a financial-services executive, spends one day a year with other people from his company providing essential services for 700 homeless people. Volunteers use a local community center to set up stations for health services, including mental health support, dental and vision care, housing assistance, haircuts, a food pantry, and more. Your communities include those who share your interests, such as faith, sports, hobbies, and so forth.
Take Three Deep Breaths
Whenever you need to clear your mind, take three deep breaths. Inhale through your nose, and exhale through your mouth. Regular deep-breathing routines improve cognitive functions and reduce stress. Take a few minutes each day to focus on breathing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 16, 2016
I found the advice in this book exceptionally helpful and practical. I think it would be useful for anyone who has too much going on in their life and feels like they have lost their sense of "true north,"
August 29, 2016
Good points but not sure its exactly life changing.
August 19, 2020
I have read a decent amount of mindfulness books over the years. This is the first one that has specifically linked mindfulness and work, though. It put a different perspective on the subject. Overworked and Overwhelmed is less about slowing down and taking on less, and more about how to live better regardless of one’s work schedule. It *may* involve slowing down and taking on less, but that is not necessarily the goal.
Eblin starts out by defining mindfulness as intention meeting awareness. You set an intention for what you want to happen and you observe what actually happens so that you can adjust now and in the future. This helps you break out of constant fight or flight mode and get rid of chronic stress.
How do you set an intention? The important thing to do first is to ask yourself: what am I like at my best? To do this, think about times in the last year or so that you had peak experiences: highlight times or when you felt in the zone. Think about a lot of these and write the instance down along with how you felt. Then look for patterns and common denominators. For instance, one facet of me being at my best is when I am learning or problem solving.
Then you take what it is like to be at your best and translate that into 1) routines that will facilitate it happening more frequently and 2) different facets of life where the principles can apply. The rest of the book is how to do that. It looks at physical, mental, relational, and spiritual aspects of life and how to easily improve them.
Did I say easily? That is one of Eblin’s favorite things. What is 1) easy to do, that 2) will make a difference? Do that first. It will help you get to the harder things in the future.
I would recommend this book, especially if it is your first introduction to mindfulness. It falls under “mindfulness light” in my head and would work particularly well for a beginner.
Eblin starts out by defining mindfulness as intention meeting awareness. You set an intention for what you want to happen and you observe what actually happens so that you can adjust now and in the future. This helps you break out of constant fight or flight mode and get rid of chronic stress.
How do you set an intention? The important thing to do first is to ask yourself: what am I like at my best? To do this, think about times in the last year or so that you had peak experiences: highlight times or when you felt in the zone. Think about a lot of these and write the instance down along with how you felt. Then look for patterns and common denominators. For instance, one facet of me being at my best is when I am learning or problem solving.
Then you take what it is like to be at your best and translate that into 1) routines that will facilitate it happening more frequently and 2) different facets of life where the principles can apply. The rest of the book is how to do that. It looks at physical, mental, relational, and spiritual aspects of life and how to easily improve them.
Did I say easily? That is one of Eblin’s favorite things. What is 1) easy to do, that 2) will make a difference? Do that first. It will help you get to the harder things in the future.
I would recommend this book, especially if it is your first introduction to mindfulness. It falls under “mindfulness light” in my head and would work particularly well for a beginner.
December 27, 2018
I received this as a gift but probably wouldn't have read otherwise. The start was not super promising with a lot of padding in the form of boiled-down science, personal stories from the corporate who's who, and spiritual thoughts. Things picked up in the second and third sections with some simple tips and thoughts you can actually use. On the whole, more thought-provoking than annoying, so I'll call it a win.
October 29, 2020
Have you ever felt overworked and overwhelmed?
That is probably a silly question.
The author, Scott Eblin, wants to help. And with this book, that he is uniquely qualified to write (he tells why through a personal story in the introduction and I will leave you in a bit of suspense), he does exactly that.
Read more...
That is probably a silly question.
The author, Scott Eblin, wants to help. And with this book, that he is uniquely qualified to write (he tells why through a personal story in the introduction and I will leave you in a bit of suspense), he does exactly that.
Read more...
April 1, 2024
Easily digestible - solid message / theories the covers areas of spiritual, professional, and personal life. Formatted in a way thats easy to refer back to and work off of. Only issue was too many uses of professional examples. The author is a wellness / career coach and tries to use an example for every concept / sub-idea. Felt like filler. Could reduce content by a third and still have a similar impact.
October 25, 2018
In today’s work environments, many professionals exist in a nearly constant stressful state. The Life GPS model helps you to recognize the characteristics and behaviors that will reflect the best version of yourself. It helps to develop your peak performance. Make sure to create simple routines that nourish your mental, spiritual, physical and relational health.
December 31, 2017
Helped me re-center and work on my flaws with less fear and anxiety.
February 23, 2018
Great book for those looking to solve their stress issues through mindful thinking. Very relatable, and accessible.
March 26, 2019
Summing it up:
Workout.
Visualize stress free success.
Spend time with friends.
Workout.
Visualize stress free success.
Spend time with friends.
April 10, 2019
Beznadziejna książka. Nie polecam.
April 10, 2019
The usual things every moderately intelligent person knows, but when overworked or overwhelmed can't even begin to employ. Meh.
October 14, 2019
Nothing new here
May 23, 2020
Sadly I got nothing from this book and finally had to put it down for good. Maybe it was me being overworked and overwhelmed but that being the case I will leave this book for others.
January 18, 2021
Enough specific and practical tips, some of which were relatively new to me, to be worth a detailed read.
January 23, 2022
I loved Eblin’s The Next Level and this book is just as valuable! Filled with practical actions and real life stories, it helps you look twice at the things you think you know.
February 2, 2022
This was a book full of some great lessons I needed to be reminded of. Especially the "breathe" lesson!!
April 4, 2023
Mindfulness = Awareness + Intention
April 1, 2024
Nothing bad, nothing new.
March 28, 2020
I decided to read this book because the title resonated with me. Does the book offer any new ideas? Would it change your life? Does it approach the subject from a creative angle? No. But it was a good reminder that we need to live our lives in a way which encourages us to imagine a stress-free success.
April 20, 2015
It's hard to believe that the arguments and practices in this book would be sufficient to turn someone's life around. They seem like a fairly lightweight and commonsense set of recommendations. Maybe that's a strength. But maybe this is a preaching-to-the-choir kind of book.
How many people do you know who are overworked and overwhelmed a) will admit that they are so, b) are willing to read 200 pages on the off-chance that they will help, and c) are modern Westerners and have never heard of mindful breathing (which is the main firepower behind all of the practices within).
I appreciate what the book is trying to accomplish and I applaud its intent. And it's not wrong about anything that it talks about. But it seems like a very light-touch, breadth-first approach to what is a systemic cultural problem.
How many people do you know who are overworked and overwhelmed a) will admit that they are so, b) are willing to read 200 pages on the off-chance that they will help, and c) are modern Westerners and have never heard of mindful breathing (which is the main firepower behind all of the practices within).
I appreciate what the book is trying to accomplish and I applaud its intent. And it's not wrong about anything that it talks about. But it seems like a very light-touch, breadth-first approach to what is a systemic cultural problem.
January 31, 2016
Finally picked up this book again after starting it and then leaving it be for a loooong time. Proud to say I finished it. It's not a bad book, but it's not great either. There's just a lot of standard info and advice.
I loved the intro and the title of 'overworked and overwhelmed' is brilliant, because a lot of people will recognize this. I also agree that the concept of mindfulness is the solution to being overworked and overwhelmed. Those chapters were solid. But the later chapters with the more practical advice felt flat to me, like they had been done before. Liked the overall tone of voice though, right mix of warmth, humor, and authority.
I loved the intro and the title of 'overworked and overwhelmed' is brilliant, because a lot of people will recognize this. I also agree that the concept of mindfulness is the solution to being overworked and overwhelmed. Those chapters were solid. But the later chapters with the more practical advice felt flat to me, like they had been done before. Liked the overall tone of voice though, right mix of warmth, humor, and authority.
January 19, 2015
This was a very interesting book, with some good ideas about achieving mindfulness in a world which is continually changing. I'll go back to it in a couple of weeks and pick out the bits that are most interesting and relevant to me. Some of the techniques discussed I can implement straight away, some I need to take more time to think about.
January 1, 2015
I was a little skeptical when I started the book: would this be the usual "bla bla" book? Absolutely no. Scott Eblin drives the reader through a mindful journey inside his/her overworked and overwhelmed life, providing tons of ideas, routines and ways to improve life.
Never forget though that a book will never help you if you really don't want to change...
Never forget though that a book will never help you if you really don't want to change...
February 3, 2015
Scott Eblin makes a persuasive case for mindfulness as a core practice for effective managers and leaders and provides the means (and stories) to make it easily accessible.
Scott is on the faculty at Georgetown and author of The a Next Level, my favorite resource for clients taking on new roles. This new book is sure to be equally useful.
Scott is on the faculty at Georgetown and author of The a Next Level, my favorite resource for clients taking on new roles. This new book is sure to be equally useful.
January 5, 2015
Finishing up several of the books that I started in December. I love this definition mindfulness from Jon Kabbat-Zinn' included in the book; he said, “Mindfulness is the awareness that arises by paying attention
on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” This book has some great ideas for how to carve out what is important versus what is not.
on purpose in the present moment and non-judgmentally.” This book has some great ideas for how to carve out what is important versus what is not.
September 9, 2016
Good book laid out on one theme and had good reinforcing concepts.
I liked the style of writing and the stories from others. Having suggestions for change was very helpful. I feel I will be able to use a few concepts from the book to help manage stress and improve quality time for a hints outside of work.
I liked the style of writing and the stories from others. Having suggestions for change was very helpful. I feel I will be able to use a few concepts from the book to help manage stress and improve quality time for a hints outside of work.
November 3, 2014
Scott Eblin has written a heartfelt personal instruction book which can be applied to everyone despite the intimate openness of the author. A must read for anyone who suffers anxiety or work-life balance challenges. In my field of medicine, that's all of us. A GREAT message!
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