The world is currently in shambles and everyone is having a crisis of their own. May it be stressing about bringing food to the table, finding a new job because of the pandemic, or dealing with the burnout and anxiety that COVID-19 has brought upon us.
Life in general isn’t easy and the world has only made life even more difficult because of the adjustments that we all have to make to adapt to the new normal. However, learning how to cope with the stress and push through a crisis isn’t impossible.
Here are some tips for bouncing back and getting your life back on track when you’re having a crisis:
Learn To Keep A Cool Head
During a crisis, people might tend to get desperate. Though doing your best and mindlessly pushing ahead may work, the chances of it working are incredibly low especially if you’re the type to easily get distracted by all the little things that are happening around you. Keep a cool head during a crisis and think about what you can do to help yourself and the people around you during the said crisis.
“What jobs can you take?”
“What’s the most efficient way to work? ”
“What is the quickest way I can bounce back without tiring myself out?”
Being level headed and keeping your cool can help you think clearer without a shroud of dread or despair clouding your mind. It allows you to properly plan and scope out most of the possibilities that can help you out in your situation.
Keep Your Focus
Panic typically sets in when you start to think about what will happen if you don’t get through the crisis. Overthinking keeps you from thinking about work and not only hinders your productivity but also with your state of mind. This flawed pessimistic mindset should be thrown to the garbage bin immediately. Be positive and tell yourself something to cheer yourself up. This gets you in the right mood and helps you think less about the past or the future and more on what you can do in the present.
On the other hand, starting a routine is a great way to keep you focused all throughout the day. Having a great start to your day means that you become more productive when working and get into the zone quicker than if you start your day on the wrong side of the bed.
Make sure you have a plan for the day and tell someone about it as this helps you actually follow the schedule you have set. Think whether or not you’re in the right mindset. If you’re not, then work on that first. Start the day thinking of what you can improve from yesterday and work your heart out!
Take Breaks to Avoid Burnout
Although focusing on your work and pouring everything to the task at hand is an admirable feat, learning to rest and take breaks will help your brain process information better and keep stress at an all-time low. Time sprints are a great example of how you should work.
Time sprints work like this:
- Give your absolute focus to the task that you’re currently doing and keep distractions low. For about 20-90 minutes, work obsessively and do as much work as possible (make sure to keep a timer).
- In between the 90 minutes, take 6-minute rests. Four sprints count as one relay and repeat till all your tasks are done.
For a lot of us, we find that doing one more task than usual and pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion will be worth it in the end; that we can power through and beat the crisis at hand alone. At this point during a pandemic, whether like it or not, we simply can’t. Don’t let your tank run dry for a single sprint when you fully know that the race is a marathon. Keep yourself from running on an empty tank and burning out by having days where you treat yourself.