I'm tired

 How often have you said those words to someone, and you can’t explain it other than I’m tired. I think there comes a point where we say that, and it’s all we have the energy to say because we are just that tired.

There are so many ways that we can be tired, and we need to figure out just what we mean when we say we are tired to someone. Let’s look at some of the different ways we can mean that we are tired when you say that simple couple of words.

-          I am bored with what I am doing and need to find something else that makes me feel valued, interesting or at least makes me feel like I am accomplishing something.

-          I am emotionally worn out, and I just don’t have the energy to focus on the task that is ahead of me, and I need to take the time to regain some focus so that I can continue to move the task forward.

-          I am physically tired, and I need to get some much-needed rest because I haven’t been sleeping very well, and I need to be able to get the sleep that my body is asking me for.

-          I am just drained in some way, and I can’t put those feelings into words.

I know that I have said those words when I haven’t been able to figure out a better way of saying that I just need a bit of time when I can focus on just taking it easy. It can be hard to explain what you are feeling when you express those simple words because so many people have a different meaning of what you are saying. So many people will need to just need to get some sleep, and then you will be back to normal while others may understand that you are worn and just can’t put the words together to get your feeling out.

So, when someone says to you that they are tired, maybe spend a bit of time to try and understand what they are really saying because you could help them in a lot of ways. Being there for someone when they are trying to figure out what they are feeling could be a lot of help. It is always nice when you can just be there to listen to someone when they are trying to figure out what a couple of simple words means to them, and then it might give you a better understanding the next time you hear those words.

As I'm writing this I can use the words “I’m tired” and it is going to be a couple of things that I am saying, as one I am emotionally worn out because I don’t have the energy to focus on my tasks and I am also physically tired as I need to get some sleep so that I can try and focus on things tomorrow. So yes, the words I’m tired can have one meaning to some people, but it can have multiple means at the same time to others.

Taking a break

For a lot of people it’s taking a break means taking a holiday or vacation, but for other’s it is simply taking a couple of days when you can relax and not think about all the different demands that are impacting you all at once. When you are a small business owner, your priority is your clients and making sure that they are happy. After you have made sure that they are happy, you can then look at things and figure out when and how you are going to take that break that you need.

Something that you should always do as a small business owner is to ensure that you have someone that can fill in for you when you need to take that break away from the demands of work. It doesn’t have to be a long break, but even a day or two can make such a difference on how to you view your demands and how you are feeling about things.

A break doesn’t have to be going somewhere, it can simply be staying at home and letting the rest of the world think that you are miles away. Being able to spend the time away from the demands of work and spending some time at home enjoying the company of your family can make a big difference. There are times when you need to just spend a little bit of time away from all the other demands on our time because that is how you are going to recharge your own personal batteries.

When you say to someone that you are taking a break from work, they quite often think you are taking days away from the demands, but it can be simply a day or two where you are going to be spending the time doing something that you want to do and that you enjoy doing. It doesn’t have to be a long break but making sure that you can take a little bit of time away from the general demands of work life it very important. When you work for a larger organization, you have vacation time that if you don’t take it you lose it, so you need to ensure that even as a small business owner you need to ensure that you have taken some time as a vacation.

When you are a small business owner you aren’t going to be taking the long vacations that some of your friends take, but you need to ensure that you take those occasional days when you just don’t think of all the deadlines and demands that you must manage. Taking a day when you go and sit in a coffee shop and just relax and work on some of the things that you enjoy doing is also a good thing. Yes, some of those things might be work related but being able to ensure that you have taken that time when you don’t let all the work emails, or such get in the way is important.

So next time you think it’s time to take that bit of a break away from the demands of your job, I would say that it would be a good idea to just do that. A day when you do something you enjoy doing that isn’t work related can take a big difference. Maybe, even taking a lunch date with your spouse which you haven’t done for a while could help a lot so yes take a break and know that work is going to be there tomorrow and if they really need to get you, you are just a call away.

Another helicopter

For a lot of people, the sound of a helicopter is something that means it’s the traffic reporter looking at the traffic on the freeway. For other’s a helicopter is something that they don’t hear very often unless there is a medical emergency, and that helicopter is landing to rescue something.

For others, there is a blend of both the traffic or police helicopters and the emergency (orange) helicopters that we see and hear. The Emergency helicopter has a different sound than the other helicopters, so you can hear them for a distance. I do remember one year we were visiting friends up in Sudbury, and we were sitting outside enjoying the day and I looked around and all I said was “Ornge”. Most of the group looked at me rather puzzled because they couldn’t hear anything and then finally others could hear the sound that I had heard and sure enough the “Orange” helicopter flew overhead on its way to the hospital in Sudbury. The group asked how I could identify that helicopter so early, and I let them know that I can hear certain sounds better than a lot of people.

Where we live, we can hear the helicopters either heading down to the Island airport, the downtown hospitals or on route back to other areas of the province. We can also hear them when they are heading to Sunnybrook Hospital which is a hospital that we can see from our apartment window. As I am writing this, there is one of those emergency helicopters sitting on the roof of the hospital. The hospital is a distance away from us, but the orange helicopter is something that I can see. At night, after a helicopter has landed on the roof, we can so see the ramp lights come on, so we know that there is a helicopter on the roof.

Each type of helicopter has a different sound, and you get to learn the sound and which type of helicopter it is. The helicopter that we don’t hear very often at all is the search and rescue helicopters. Those are normally in the northern part of Ontario or can be found over the lake when they are searching for a missing boater or person.

So next time you hear what you think might be a helicopter, have a look-up and see what it is. If it is an “Ornge” helicopter (at least here in Ontario) know that it is probably transporting or has transported someone to a specific hospital for the care that they need.

Looking at things differently

So many of us get into a routine, and it doesn’t matter what happens, the routine is something that we stick to. Lately, I have been looking at my routine and trying to see if I can start to change things up a bit and do things a little differently. Sure, there are the things that I need to do and then there are the things that I would like to do and enjoy doing. So perhaps I can do better.

In some cases, a routine can result in your getting stuck in a rut and no matter what you try and do, things just don't seem to change. Of course, realizing that you are stuck in a rut, isn’t something that is going to be easy to realize. The rut can be a result of things happening around you that you don’t have any control over, but there are times that the things that are happening are because of something that you do.

Something that we all need to do from time to time is look at how we are doing things and why we are doing things and see if we can change it up. The other thing to look at is what we are doing. Yes, what we are doing and how long are we doing a specific thing can help shed light on a lot of things. If a task is taking you forever to complete, maybe, it’s time to look at the task and see why it seems so hard. Being able to look at the various tasks and figure them out is always a good idea because then you might be able to change up how you are doing that specific task.

Another way to look at things differently is to take a bit of a break and then look at the things you have been doing in the past. Yes, a break can be a day or two away from the standard routine and then when you get back to it, you may see things that you have been doing and don’t know why you have been doing them. Sometimes those things are tasks that have just become habit without any meaning behind them.

The idea of looking at things differently can seem like such a difficult thing to do, but it can help you regain a focus that has gone missing. Instead of just doing things because you have been doing them and figuring out the importance of those tasks can help a lot. Recently, I was looking at my list of things that I wanted to do and couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t moving things forward. Well, what I realized was I wasn’t moving things forward because I didn’t have some goals for these items.

So, looking at things differently can make a difference, and just giving yourself time to look at things can make a difference. For me, I have started to give myself small goals that I want to achieve, and I am feeling better about things now. Yes, I had to take that break away from my standard routine before I realized that I was just doing things a specific way and got myself into a rote that I didn’t see.

I am now looking at things differently, and I am happier with what I am working on and how I am working on things. Things seem a little clearer now, and I can focus on things that for a while, I couldn’t, and it is making me happy with the progress that I am seeing on things. So, remember it’s important to look at what you are doing and why you are doing things and maybe a bit of a change can make a big difference.