The Art of Compartmentalization: Success Strategy for Preventing Overwhelm and Burnout

Burnout has become a familiar term - with good reason. It's not just a buzzword. In today's fast-paced world, many people find themselves juggling multiple responsibilities, facing constant pressure to perform at their best, both personally and professionally. Burnout is more than just feeling tired or stressed; it's a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress. Recognizing the signs of burnout and taking proactive steps to prevent it is crucial for maintaining overall well-being. Remember, it's essential to prioritize self-care, set boundaries, and seek support when needed to avoid falling victim to burnout's detrimental effects. Your health and happiness are worth it.

In this episode, we bring awareness to a powerful psychological tool that can help us navigate through the challenges with grace and efficiency: compartmentalization.
Compartmentalization is the ability to mentally separate different aspects of our lives or tasks into distinct compartments, allowing us to focus on one thing at a time without being overwhelmed by everything else. It's like having different rooms in a house, each serving a specific purpose and neatly organized to prevent clutter and chaos.

Enjoy your beautiful palace! 

Transcript

0:59

Hello again. Welcome to another week of getting up every day to default, to extraordinary, to your extraordinary self. I'm excited to be on this journey with you as always. And when I first started my coaching practice, my intention really was to address burnout because burnout was a significant part of my journey. Especially professionally putting me back on track and re engaging passion and getting a hold of vision for my life. Burnout again was a significant part of that. It was a rough road. And it was a profound, personal growth experience. The physical impacts the emotional impact. Of what burnout really means now burnout has become a familiar term with good reason. It's not just a buzzword. In the way we operate today, there are many people that find themselves juggling multiple responsibilities. I've dealt with this mostly in the world. Of being a nurse and in the nursing practice and really kept an eye on the statistics that are facing nurses and burnout. But this isn't just a one profession issue. This is life in general. Facing constant pressures to perform at our best. Both personally and professionally can take a toll and We want to do our best. We want to show up in the world than the way that we want to. And so sometimes this is just something we have to pay attention to. Burnout is more than just feeling tired or stressed. That's another thing is that it's really a state of emotional and physical and mental exhaustion. That is caused by prolonged stress and recognizing the signs of burnout and taking proactive steps to prevent it is crucial for maintaining that overall wellbeing. And this is also why I. I think that assessing our wellbeing and assessing our overall wellbeing on a regular basis, even weekly, or at least monthly is really important for us to keep our eye on this. I know when I Went through burnout. It was really the first time that I implemented a routine for the assessing overall wellbeing. Now I use a tool called the wheel of life. To do this and it is available. I'll put a link in the show notes below. So that you can access this. If you ever try out this tool that I use it weekly. And monthly. To evaluate. I also use the growth day up. I've talked about this before. The link is also in the show notes. You can try the growth day app for two weeks for free. And it has all the tools in there too. It's got a weekly evaluation. It's got your journal tools. And when you do the evaluation, it brings up videos that are. On the topics that you need to address as part of this. So it's not just evaluating, but you also get tips. So check that out. If you're looking for a tool as well. Again, recognizing the signs of burnout and taking proactive steps to prevent it. Is crucial for maintaining the overall wellbeing And we know that it's essential to prioritize self care. But do we do it? We can do that by setting boundaries and seeking. Support when we need it to avoid. Falling. Into that pattern of burnout and leading into some of those detrimental effects on our health. Your health and happiness are worth it. And you are somebody who wants to default to your extraordinary self and to do that. Sometimes you just need some support. And if that is you know that already. Scroll down to the note section here and schedule your no regrets discovery session. You'll be surprised at how much we could cover in a short period of time in one conversation that is free and you could try out coaching and see how beneficial that can be. Now. Burnout overwhelm resistance procrastination. All of those things affect our productivity and the way we want to be showing up in the world. It affects our sense of peace. So if you're not thinking about, I want to be a productive person or I want that high performance. Mindset your sense of peace and overall well-being can be affected by all of these things. Now we're going to consider a powerful psychological tool. That can help us navigate through the challenges with grace and efficiency. And this tool is compartmentalization. We like to talk about free flowing and the fun and just doing what we feel like doing and going through our days in a way that makes sense. But assigning some intentionality is a good practice. Compartmentalization is that ability to mentally separate different aspects of our lives or the tasks in two distinct compartments, you may have heard of focus blocks or time-blocking. This is the way of time management that fits into this same concept of compartmentalization. It allows us to focus on one thing at a time without being overwhelmed by everything else. If you are a leader. you come out of your office, you walked down the hall. Someone is going to stop you and bring up and want to bring up or discuss with you. Something that is really is important to them at the time on their mind And it was affecting them in a big way. And this issue might not be anywhere on your radar screen. Maybe you are dealing with something else and it's coming from out of the blue. You want to address those things that people bring to you. But handling them on the fly like that when maybe when you're in the middle of a flow of thought on something else. Can be very emotionally draining. It can affect your ability to cognitively perform at your highest. And. You are best. Research tells us that when we are in the flow of some of a task, If we get interrupted sometimes those interruptions come from us, our own brains, not just other people. But when we get interrupted, it can take 20 to 40 minutes to get back on track. That's a lot of energy used. It's a lot of wasted time. so going back to the compartmentalization, this is like having different rooms in a house Each serving a specific purpose and neatly organized to prevent that clutter and chaos. So there are ways that you can deal with that. I know that this isn't really addressing that issue of people coming at you. That's probably an issue of boundaries. And respecting that space and teaching other people. And creating a way for you to deal with that. To be able to say I hear you. Can you put that in an email and things like that so that you can stick that concern that somebody brought to you that's legitimate and you want to address it. Instead of getting annoyed by it or trying to address it right then throwing your whole day off. You can compartmentalize that. You can ask them to step into this other room, put their concern in an email. Take it to a different time block on your day. So that you don't spend a lot of time addressing that issue, but you put that. to the sitting room. You'll so, and that'll make more sense as we talk a little bit more about this concept. The top leaders across various fields recognize that this importance of compartmentalization and maintaining balance and achieving success. Whatever you think about Elon Musk, he is someone who has balanced or managed. Multiple companies simultaneously. And he is known for his ability to compartmentalize his time and attention. Dedicating focused blocks to each venture without allowing one to overshadow the others. in her book. Becoming Michelle Obama spoke about how she consciously separates her personal life from her professional obligations. And that ability to keep different spheres of life. Separate, allowed her to give her full attention and dedication to each of the roles that she was playing or that she plays. So by compartmentalizing, she can be fully present in the moment whether she is interacting with her family. Representing her country or pursuing her own passions and interests. Brendon Burchard also teaches about this That's also found in the growth day app, by the way, and in in his books. and one key mindset that he hits on is that ability to live with incomplete. Or we might understand this better as how we talk about. The, I have to remind myself all the time about progress, not perfection. Just keep moving forward. So when we set those time blocks and we don't get something done, We still had to finish that. Do we have to live with moving on it? Despite that the task may be isn't complete. Now, if you are a leader, especially in healthcare, you were used to probably going to meetings and things get tabled. And not all I agenda items always get addressed fully. And you have to come back to that. In one way. It's way that things that seem to move very slowly in big corporate environments. But sometimes that's just necessary and. I would say too, we have to adjust. and prioritize. So if you know that something is really important and you're going to leave it in complete, or if it has a deadline the next time that you plan, you can just adjust for that, right? So you might want to get less done in those rooms. So again, the idea of perfection is probably more, some of us struggle more with that than others. Just knowing that it is not, the goal is progress. Not perfection. We keep moving forward. Now psychology also shed light on the benefit of compartmentalization. According to the cognitive behavior theory, compartmentalization serves as a coping mechanism, allowing us to manage conflicting emotions or thoughts by separating them into distinct mental compartments. And this can be particularly helpful in high stress situations where maintaining emotional equilibrium. Is crucial for making those sound decisions. Now research in neuroscience also suggests that compartmentalization enhances cognitive efficiency by reducing cognitive load. So by allocating mental resources to specific tasks or goals, we can avoid the cognitive overload that often leads to burnout. And mental fatigue. And this is something that if you ever really navigated an issue of maybe a conflict issue, And it's running in the background, no matter what you're doing in your day. You've always got this thing that's running in the background. Your brain is like almost trying to figure out how am I going to deal with this? How many are going to deal with. And you've ruminating on that. You can see how then the tasks that you are accomplishing, aren't getting your full attention. And so then you're not doing your very best. You're not. Able to shoot for your extraordinary self. Because you got this thing running in the background. Taking that thing and putting it in a compartment and giving it an assignment of time and space where you will address it. Is just very freeing. So how exactly can we implement compartmentalization? Because yeah, it's easy to talk about. A lot harder to do, especially when, like I said, those interruptions come from our own brains, you can be really focused on something and all of a sudden your brain. In your brain, perhaps a thought about something that happened with someone that you still have to resolve and you start ruminating on that start rehearsing conversations in your head. Pretty soon you're scrolling on Facebook. You're looking for YouTube videos. You're looking for books on this topic, or maybe you're trying to create about you're doing all of that in the background and you didn't even realize that it wasn't something that you controlled your brain. Just pop that thought into your head and sent you down a rabbit hole of. You somewhere else. And. So how can we implement compartmentalization in our daily lives so that we can get good at it? Now one memorable framework is the mind palace technique. This is not something new. It's not something that I thought up. And this is more inspired by. Ancient art of memory. Now for this, you want to imagine your mind as a palace with countless rooms, each representing a different aspect of your life or a task. So when you're faced with a new challenge or responsibility, you can visualize yourself entering that corresponding room in your mind. Palace. As you step into this mental space. You leave all the distractions behind. That concern, unrelated tasks. So that you can focus only on what needs to be done in that moment and give your full attention and energy to it. It takes some practice. And honestly, I am still practicing this. My biggest challenge is when my brain pops a thought into my head, it's really hard for me to. Stop. And put it in and you just opened the door to the other room where it will sit. But once you get the hang of it and you start. Actually assigning the time your brain can relax. I do this a lot of times. I think that my biggest time to practice this is at nighttime. When I go to bed. To say that. nothing's going to come out of this, except for that I'm going to lose sleep. I'm not going to accomplish anything by thinking about it when I lay my head on the pillow. But what I can do is say, okay, I have a time for this. I don't need to think about this now because I've got time scheduled to address it. Later, I've got a book that I'm reading on this, and I'm going to open the door to that room. Shove this thought into that room. And leave it there until the assigned. Appropriate time and place. So if you're at work, Immerse yourself completely in your professional role. Setting aside the personal worries and distractions. And then when it's time to switch gears, spend some quality time with friends or family and totally focused there. Now for me to be able to do this, I have to have a transition. So you can transition from the, to the corresponding room in your mind, palace. Leaving, for example, work related stress behind and moving into family time. And for this, I developed for myself a two, like a two minute mindful transition, and I will do this in my car. I'll transition out of my morning routine into my workplace. I'll transition out of my workplace, into my home life so that it don't bring all of that stuff into the time that I have to wind down in the evening either. So this is just. My two minute mindful transition ritual. Is just taking a moment to pause and breathe and reset. I like to find the quiet space where I can focus. Without distractions. But at the times when I can't do that, you could do it while you're walking to your car while you're walking into the house, use some different triggers. But start by taking a deep breath in. Filling your lungs expand and then exhale slowly and fully. And while you're exhaling, release any of the tension or stress. You can repeat that about three times allowing each breath to ground you in the present moment. And then next, you just close your eyes and bring awareness to your body. This is the time where you can scan from head to toe noticing any areas of tightness or discomfort. This is where we're going to hold our attention, maybe from things that happened to us during the day. Or a conversation that kind of is. RI is playing in the background. This is where we'll notice how our body is taking all of that in. So notice any tightness or discomfort and with each breath, imagine releasing that tension and letting go of any worries or thoughts. That might be maybe weighing you down. And then finally, as you open your eyes, you want to set an intention for the rest of your day it could be a word or a phrase, or simply a feeling that you want to embody. So you're going to carry that intention with you as you continue your day. If you're going into a meeting, you might take a deep breath and say, I'm going to show up fully and focus and be present. I'm going to be bold and courageous, whatever it is that you need at that moment. As is what you're going to embody. Knowing that you can always return to that mindful practice whenever you need that moment of calm, because it's just a breath away. You may choose a word or a couple words ongoing, whether it's peace or gratitude or kindness, or even just smiling. Let it infuse that moment with meaning and mindfulness embrace the power of your intention. I have a rock sitting on my desk with the word, breathe engraved on it. I actually also have one in my car. I pick it up at the end of the time block and just breathe in and out. I acknowledge the task is complete if even if it's just for that day. I set the rock down on my desk and leaving it there until the next time. And it's just my way of physically letting go of that certain time. And that certain place and walking out of that room and into another. You can also use, if you don't. You don't have to have an object there. You can use a doorframe as the trigger. You can literally, as you walk through the door of your office, your home living room release and reset your intention for the next space. So take this time for yourself to nurture your wellbeing and cultivate that sense of peace and clarity. In the midst of all of that busy-ness and even in those distractions, Just embrace that mindful transition ritual. And gift it to yourself every day. Cause by compartmentalizing your mental space and creating that palace, those different rooms for different things in different places. You can create those clear boundaries between different aspects of your life. And prevent them from bleeding into one another and causing that stress and overwhelm. And this not only enhances productivity and focus, but it also fosters that greater sense of balance and wellbeing. We talk about work life balance. And that is not an equal attention or equal time given to each of our values. That work-life balance or that work-life harmony is that sense of balance and wellbeing that we're not having work. That's interfering with our family time that we're getting that time to. Give to the things that are important to us and we're experiencing, and we're showing up in the world the way we want to. So try some of these things. And I'd love to hear from you about how this shows up for you and what this, what is coming up for you now, when I talk about compartmentalization, I love to hear your stories, your wins and your struggles. I say I'm on the journey with you because we can learn and grow together. I use the voice recorder. In the link below, just go to the show notes and hit that. And send me a voice message that might be an easy way to do it. Or of course, email me. Reach out. Let me know. If you enjoy this topic, if you enjoy this episode. If you're listening in and joining in with me I hope you're on my email list because I sometimes Go a little deeper or I share a little bit more in my emails about these same topics. So I hope you're on the email list. If you're not link is in the show notes. Obviously, there are a lot of links in the show notes. I don't want to overwhelm you just pick whatever it is, wherever it is. You want to jump in. Sharing your story. Getting back to me, maybe you want to join. Maybe you want that growth day app. Don't forget about that. Or the simple wheel of life tool. There are a lot of resources in the show notes. So don't miss that. If, and if all of that, if you just want one thing to do, get on the email list, cause all the links will come to your email and you won't have to search for them. These episodes will also come to your email. You won't have to search for that either. So if you enjoy this, please share and subscribe. Get on the email list so that you have all of those things and we can go on this journey together. Compartmentalization is a powerful tool that is going to enable us to navigate the complexities. I have this life with clarity and purpose. No regrets life by mentally separating different aspects of our lives and tasks. We can maintain balance, prevent burnout, and stay on the track with our goals. So the next time you feel overwhelmed by the demands of life. Remember to retreat to your mind palace. And embrace the art, the compartmentalization as you get up every day and default to your extraordinary self.