Self-Talk

It is important to intervene when you get into a negative self-talk rabbit hole. It happened to me today:

"It's 5 pm! No haven't been 'productive'"

"What are you doing? The client is billing you!"

In these times, you need to ask the sergeant to relax. I call this alter-ego, the Sergeant.

Intervene in the following ways:

• Disconnect from the situation

  • I went for a yoga class today and it really helped
  • I'm not able to articulate this, but disconnecting makes your situation seem less daunting than it actually is
  • I take this from Naval's Almanack, where he says, makes the tasks you do less important

• Focus on what's really important

  • 1 day of less productive work won't kill you
  • Always remember that consistency beats intensity in the longer run

• Do something that invites your complete focus and forces you to get out of your head

  • e.g Play with your kid, a kid is sheer presence, you will be forced to live in the moment
  • Write

• Write down your thoughts

  • Write them down and see them for what they are
  • Read them back and see how ridiculous they sound

• Write down your thoughts on Linkedin - as I have done

  • Let people come to you for advice

I'm doing the last one now. ;-)
What do you do in such cases?