Stand Out

CONCLUSION

Feeling overloaded is all-consuming. Holding back the tide of busy is exhausting. For me, the drive to write this book came from the men and women who I connect with on a daily basis. In the quiet, safe space of our conversations, when busy paused for just a moment, I would hear their despair and witness their fatigue. Behind their eyes was the belief and hope that things could be better. That it had to get better. That their efforts could make a difference — and not just a little one but a seismic one. This was where they found the drive to keep getting up and turning up, even among the busyness. But the ‘pushing through' came with costs and collateral damage. Costs to their happiness and relationships, significant costs to their health, and costs to their belief in themselves. They were losing sight of the best things that life had to offer. All this work and no play, they would question — for what? With each cost their shoulders drooped just a little further. These stories resonated with me, because they reflected my own despair and heartache. Their story was my story.

Diving into researching this book has allowed me to come back to the importance of starting with self, and the realisation that the best time-management strategies in the world are pointless if we don't have a strong sense of who we are and what matters to us. Productivity tips, as brilliant as they are, can actually add to the overload if we don't have the courage to set clear boundaries. Doing ...