You Don’t Need To Be “Caught Up” To Feel Accomplished

Image created using Dall-E

How often do you tell yourself “I’ll just work a little later, and then I’ll be caught up”?

Or “I’ll work this weekend, but then I’ll be caught up”?

But let me ask you:

Have you ever, in your life, been “caught up” in all areas of your life, at the same time?

My guess is no.

Because here’s the harsh truth:  There’s no such thing as “caught up”.

Let’s dive a little deeper into what “caught up” might mean.

Caught up suggest that it’s possible to be in a state where there is literally nothing left to do.

• No tasks

• No emails

• No laundry

• No dishes

• No to-dos

• Nothing

And, if this state happened to me, perhaps I’d feel blissful…for about 2 seconds.

But then I’d wonder where my ambition went.

And, quite frankly, I’d be worried, because this doesn’t sound like a very interesting life.

If you’re not making choices, making tradeoffs, I’m going to argue that life starts to feel a little meaningless.

It’s the fact that we have to choose one thing over another that allows us to feel as though we have agency in our lives, and to feel confident in our choices about how we spent that most precious resource: time.

In a world where you’re “caught up”, what do you have to look forward do?

And how long can you stay “caught up”? Really.

(Look, yes, I get to inbox 0 a couple of times a day. BUT, I only stay there for about 5 minutes max.)

It’s elusive.

It’s fleeting.

Emails just keeps rolling in.

Tasks keep showing up.

So, what do to?

Well, I think what you really mean when you say “caught up” is that you want to feel “in control”.

• To be the one who runs your day, instead of letting the day happen to you.

• To feel as if you have the knowledge and the power to make the decisions that are right for you and your life.

And that’s a feeling I can get behind, for sure.

But let’s not equate it with being “caught up”.

Because, here’s the thing about being “caught up”.

• You don’t have control over how many emails come your way, how many Slack messages, how much work gets put on your plate.

• And if you can’t control it, and the volume is simply too much, it’s not possible to be caught up. Even for a fleeting moment.

Your locus of control is not around WHAT comes up.

But rather, your control lies in how you react, respond, choose, and move forward.

And I think that’s pretty freeing to understand.

Because when you realize you have agency, you’re ready to learn and you’re ready to change.

When you realize you have agency, you can learn:

• How to prioritize in such a way that you know, at the end of every day, that the things you did were more important than the things you didn’t do.

• To know the difference between the truly impactful, and the squeaky wheels.

• To feel confident in the tradeoffs you’ll inevitably have to make, every day, with your time.

• How to be more efficient so that you can do more of the stuff that you want and not have to make as many tradeoffs.

• How to communicate about your workload and your capacity with other people, with your colleagues and your boss, in a way that leaves you feeling good about the interaction, and them feeling confident in your abilities.

I can teach you how to feel good about your time, every day.

If you so choose.

It’s up to you.

So, next time you catch yourself saying, “I’ll work a little later, and then I’ll be caught up,” stop, take a breath and remember:

You and I, we could both work for 18 hours a day, everyday, for the rest of our lives, and there would still be more work to do.

Being “caught up” is a myth.

But feeling in control is very real and very achievable.

And I can help you get there.

You’re already taking the first step by reading this right now.