Juggling the demands of life

Currently, I feel like I am juggling a lot of different things, and I am trying to ensure that they all get accomplished, and nothing is left out.  Yes, this is a challenge that a lot of us face quite often, and knowing that you can handle it can be hard and even stressful. 

I am sitting in my office area at home and realize that sometimes I am just going to have to let a few things go until I can make progress on the things that are most important.  Looking around and seeing the different demands is difficult, but at least now I have a list of things that I need to work on.  Over the last month or so, I started writing down all the different things that need my attention, big or small.  The small things get dealt with right away, and all the other things get written down.  I am the type of person that does make to-do lists and have to admit that most of the time they do work for me because I can see what needs to get done and also what I got done. 

Tomorrow is another day, and I am going to start with my to-do list and see what I can accomplish off of it and know that I wouldn't be able to accomplish everything.  At least making some progress on the different items is going to make me feel quite a bit better about things.  Taking the small steps forward is a lot better than taking no steps forward at all.  My list may be long, but I know that I can accomplish some of the things and the other things will just have to wait another day.

The juggling is through for today, and now it's time to sit back and relax and know that I did what I could do today and I will do what I can do tomorrow.

Knowing you can do something

Since writing my CAPM exam, I have had a chance to look at things and think a lot of things through.  I have found that since writing and passing the exam, I realized that I can really achieve what I put my mind to.  Yes, there are going to be challenges to overcome, but at least know that you can achieve what you want in life.

Of course after finishing my exam I realized I had a one-week break before I took another course, but that was only a 4-day course, and you write the exam at the end of the last day.  This time I put a lot less pressure on myself because I was feeling good throughout the course and this exam wasn't for a certification, it was just one course. 

Besides all the stress release and trying to catch up with everything I had pushed aside in January, I realized that I needed a better way to organize my life.  I am one of those that of course tries to do everything for everyone and then gets stressed because of everything on my plate.  Now I have started to write down all the things that I need to do, and I am not feeling as stressed as I did before.  I think being able to see the list instead of trying to keep it all in my head has really started to help me.  Having this list also means that I can delegate some of the things when my plate gets too full, and the other person knows what is outstanding and needs attention. 

My list of things that need my attention is currently a little longer than I would like it to be, but I know that if I focus on one thing at a time, the list will get shorter quickly.  This next week I hope to be able to focus on a couple of things that need to be completed by the end of February and then work on the rest of the list. 

Knowing that you can achieve what you put your mind to does help because it means that you aren't doubting yourself as much.  I know this is how I am feeling because I now know that I achieved something I wanted and can now plow ahead and achieve other things.

Results of self imposed stress

Previously, I wrote about the self-imposed stress that I had put upon myself about trying to achieve something that I really wanted.  Well the exam was Friday and thanks to modern technology I know the results already, and they are I passed the exam.  I achieved my CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) and now know that if I put my mind to something, I can achieve it.

This certification has been a lot of hard work, but I put the effort into achieving it and after wanting to postpone the exam because I doubted myself, I pushed ahead and wrote it.  Knowing that I did this has helped me see that I shouldn't doubt myself as much as I have in the past.

So now that I have achieved this, I am going to start thinking a little differently about things and I will know that if I put my mind to it, I can do it.

Dealing with self imposed stress

Like a lot of people, I put undo stress on myself.  I am admitting this because this week I have been adding more and more stress for no real reason.  I think part of it is because of writing a CAPM exam on Friday, I am starting to worry about the outcome.  Last night, I hit the point of wanting to postpone the exam so that I didn't have to deal with the outcome this week.  Basically, all I was going to do was postpone the outcome instead of facing it head on.

This morning I woke up feeling a lot better about things and realize that no matter what the outcome, at least I have given it my best try and that is all anyone can expect.  Yes, anyone does include me now, instead of how I normally deal with things and forget to include me.  Knowing that people are there to support me is helping because sometimes being your own worst enemy sure doesn't help.  I am the one that questions if I am ready, while everyone else is saying that I know the material. 

Facing things head-on instead of always questioning your ability is what I should do more often because I know I can do lots of things and will continue to do them.  Now the challenge until the weekend is to try not to add any more stress to myself and know that what happens, happens.

Off to do some studying, but will not try and pack the brain too much today so that I can also take some time to relax and enjoy life.