Superhero Syndrome

Superhero Syndrome
Spiderman 3 was big at the box office this summer, and we
all know how well his life is working, as he tries to
juggle love, work, revenge, commitment, family and saving
the world. If this resembles your own life, maybe you're
suffering from Superhero Syndrome. The symptoms? Trying to
finish every item on a LONG to-do list, reading every
e-mail, answering every telephone call, and staying
"on-call" to all the various people in our lives. Yet, no
matter how much we accomplish or how hard we work, it never
seems to be enough ? our clients, our boss, our co-workers,
our family, our friends, all those people depend on us not
to let them down. And sometimes it seems like we're falling
farther and farther behind.

If we stop for a moment and honestly examine our lives,
we'll see that we are indeed accomplished, dedicated,
creative beings who are making positive changes in our
world on a daily basis. Maybe things aren't perfect, and
progress isn't coming as fast as we'd like, but we need to
cut ourselves some slack. We need to be kind and pat
ourselves on the back for a job well done instead of
beating ourselves up.

We need to treat ourselves with all the empathy, love and
understanding that we lavish on everyone else. We need to
be able to walk away at the end of the workday energized
and ready for what's next rather than drained and ready to
collapse on the couch with the TV remote. Here are some
suggestions to get your day in line and bring back joy and
energy to your life.

1. Start your day with intention. Pick out a maximum of
three tasks that are the most important to complete. It's
easy to get side-tracked by putting easier, less-important
tasks on your to-do list, making it longer and longer.
Putting your best effort and intention on meeting your top
priorities will give you a real sense of accomplishment at
the end of the day.

2. Take your lunch break. Eat a healthy meal, go for a
walk, or mediate. Too many of us eat a hurried lunch at our
desk ? I'm often guilty of that. Don't shortchange yourself
-- refueling and relaxing are important for stamina and
creativity.

3. End your day with positives. Before settling in for the
night, take a few minutes to review your day. Think of two
things you wish would have turned out differently,
acknowledge that you did the best you could at the time,
and then firmly set them aside. Then, think of five things
you did that were positive and take the time to savor each
one of these accomplishments. Remind yourself that no one
person can be and do everything, and give yourself a pat on
the back for what you do accomplish.

4. Stop listening to the voice in your head. The one that
says, "I'm not good enough." You are good enough ? if you
weren't, you wouldn't be in your current job getting it
done. When you hear that voice, stop and reframe the
comment into something positive. Make a decision ? right
now, today ? to never disrespect yourself again.

5. Stand up to your fears. Anxiety often comes from fear of
failure or fear that you don't deserve "something". Whether
its money, success, a relationship or something else, we
sometimes fear the exact thing we think we want. Spend some
time examining what is really fueling your anxiety and
confront the fears that arise.

Many of us hold our lives to a standard higher than we have
for other people. We need to learn to give ourselves a
break. The next time you start dumping on yourself for
something, shut it off and reflect on how you would respond
to a friend with the same issue. Then give yourself the
same love and tolerance your friend would expect from you.
Superheroes only exist in books and movies. This is real
life and you're human ? but you can go on to accomplish
great things if you just get out of your own way!

----------------------------------------------------
Joan Schramm, the Workplace Solutions Expert, is a career,
executive and personal coach with twenty years experience
in management, training and coaching. Joan can work with
you to figure out exactly what you want from your life and
your career, and how to get there without a lot of detours.
For more information, or to talk about what?s going on in
your life, go to:
http://www.achieve-momentum.com