I have this book sitting on my desk that I received for Christmas from my father. It has been sitting there for weeks and I was finally prompted to open it by a high stress, down in the dumps situation. We all have those, don’t we? The book is “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff… and it’s all small stuff”. Most of the principals in the book are incredibly simple, yet powerful.

For this week’s Monday Motivation, I want to reflect on chapter 4, Be Aware of the Snowball Effect of Your Thinking.

A powerful technique for becoming more peaceful is to be aware of how quickly your negative and insecure thinking can spiral out of control. Have you ever noticed how uptight you feel when you’re caught up in your thinking? And, to top it off, the more absorbed you get in the details of whatever is upsetting you, the worse you fell. One thought leads to another, and yet another, until at some point you become incredibly agitated.

This is a trap that I get caught in myself often, as well as many agents I know. You can sometimes spend time thinking of the tasks and projects that need to be done, then that spirals into thinking of everything else that didn’t get done, and before you know it, you are feeling overwhelmed and wondering how you will get ANYTHING done. Ever been kept up at night doing this very thing?

The solution is to notice what’s happening in your head before your thoughts have a chance to build any momentum. The sooner you catch yourself in the act of building your mental snowball, the easier it is to stop.

Thinking constantly about your busy schedule, all of the tasks that need to be done, and thoughts of how overwhelmed you are can make you feel even more stressed. Just stop! And if you are like me and sometimes those thoughts start creeping into your head when you try to go to sleep, keep a piece of paper by your bed (or your smartphone) and write them down. Give it a try and see if you sleep better at night and are a little less stressed.

Then give those notes to your Virtual Assistant to take on those tasks and help you rest a little easier.

Megan E. Barber is a Real Estate Virtual Assistant, and owner of Barber Virtual Assisting Solutions. With over 10 years of experience working within the real estate industry, Megan and her team Virtual Assistants provide top notch real estate support services such as marketing, lead follow-up, social media, WordPress websites, and more. Megan E Barber is also the creator and author of The BVAS Connection and VA Mommy

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