These last few months have been amazing in regard to career growth. You may know that outside of PodiatryMeetings.com, Ann and I each run our own individual businesses; and right now all of them are growing and thriving. Great news, right?
I thought so too, until I was sitting at my desk the last two weeks feeling completely paralyzed. I have so much work on my plate that I haven't been able to figure out where to start because I feel like everything has to get done RIGHT NOW. And since that's impossible, I went semi-catatonic.
What happens next? Oh, the amazing anxiety from being paralyzed and getting even further behind. I was putting myself in a vicious cycle.
I wish I could tell you I knew how to break out of it - because I didn't. The good news is, I did snap out of it completely by accident and so now I've got some great insight!
In the midst of my paralysis, Ann and I had a quick client status update call. Usually, if I'm feeling overwhelmed, the last thing I want to do is get on the phone with anybody, especially clients. Shockingly, it's exactly what I needed.
I texted Ann right after and said, "I feel so much better about everything right now." What's weird is, the status update didn't change anything on my plate, but for some reason it changed the perception I had about everything I had to do.
So why did this have an effect on me to get me back to work? I honestly still don't really know, but I think it's simply a matter of getting out of your internal conversations.
During the couple of weeks that I fell into paralysis, my usual daily conversations with Ann were less because she was traveling. I work alone in my house and my two dogs don't really have much feedback to give when I'm running an office meeting.
So my advice moving forward, if you find yourself in a situation like this, don't avoid regular progress updates with your co-workers and/or your customers/clients. Even if you feel like you're not going to deliver great news, it could just be in your head; and even if it's not in your head, the fact that you are acknowledging your progress and status OUTLOUD may just be the fire you need under your bootay to get you back into action!
