It is important to consider the impact of busy schedules and an overall fast-paced life on our underlying biological state.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.
We’ve all been there. Our schedule is jampacked and we have more appointments than we feel we are able to comfortably manage. We may have tight deadlines for assignments or projects which are upcoming. We may feel like we’re racing between events. Whatever the specifics of the situation, we have all experienced the scenario in which we feel like our schedules are overly full and we are racing between events. Sometimes we might even feel as if we are racing to complete tasks in order to get onto the next one.
Whether we are considering the pursuit of health and wellbeing or developing our ability to sustain high performance on a durable basis, it is inevitable that we will experience situations in which we feel like we are rushed and pressured for time. In modern day life, this is almost unavoidable. It is important to consider the impact of these situations on our underlying biological states. As discussed throughout this article series, it is our biological state which determines the attributes which emerge from our physiology and psychology and, therefore, strongly influence our ability to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. This makes it necessary to develop strategies and tactics to manage this common experience of feeling rushed and pressured for time.
It is important to consider any elements we may experience which may impact our underlying biological state. The many scenarios described above certainly fit this concept. It can be subtle, or it can be obvious, the ways in which our schedules and our perception of a need to rush between events can impact our biological states.
If we are to consider those instances in which we feel pressured for time or that we have too much scheduled, we can readily appreciate how feelings of anxiety and overwhelm can easily occur and, eventually, predominant and persist. The bodily sensations and accompanying thoughts are reflective of a biological state shift towards activated, anxious, overwhelmed, and, even, shutdown states. As has been discussed throughout this article series, these states can be highly adaptive in specific situations, however, it is more often the case that they are not optimal for pursuing health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance. In addition, once we have shifted into these states, it is more likely that we will neurocept future equivocal cues and stimuli in a fashion that further shifts our biological state towards activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, and shutdown state.
The understanding described above informs how it can become important to manage our schedules and our perception of a need to speed between tasks or complete activities in a rushed fashion. In any of the scenarios subscribed above, it is often the case that our biological state shifts towards activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, or shutdown states. In order to better pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance it is therefore beneficial to manage these situations to the greatest extent possible.
One strategy to manage this scenario is to schedule, to the extent we are able, such that we reduce the likelihood that we will feel rushed for time or pressured to finish activities faster than ideal. While it may be desirable to adjust our schedules in this way, it is not always practical or possible. In situations in which we are unable to adjust our schedule accordingly, it becomes particularly important to ensure that we take a moment to pause, check in, and identify our biological state. If we identify that we have shifted into activated, attacking, anxious, overwhelmed, or shutdown states then it becomes important to implement body-based skills and tactics in order to shift our biological state back towards anchored and grounded states.
In high demand situations, the inherent nature of the activities we may be doing and the consequences of the tasks can also lead to these shifts in our biological state. While it may not always be on the basis of feeling time pressured, other sources of pressure, including the nature of high stakes situations, can lead to a similar shift in biological state. This may reflect the potential consequences of the scenario for us, those around us, or those we are trying to help. In these scenarios, it becomes similarly important to check in with our biological state and identify where we are at in the given moment. As needed, we can then implement body-based skills and tactics to shift towards anchored and grounded states so that we are better able to pursue health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance.
A related scenario arises when we may have to perform tasks or accomplish activities which we would prefer not to. We all experience situations in which there are certain things that must be done, but we would rather be doing something different. This discordance can also lead to shifts in our biological state as described above. It is also, therefore, important that in these situations in which we are doing activities which are not our preferred tasks, that we check in with our biological state to ensure that we are able to implement skills to shift towards anchored and grounded states as needed.
Irrespective of the cause of a feeling of living a fast-paced life, having to perform tasks faster than ideal, those which are associated with high stakes scenarios, or those which we may prefer not to, we will inevitably experience shifts in our biological state on account of our schedules, available time to complete necessary tasks, or the tasks themselves. While scheduling ourselves such that we reduce this potential to the greatest extent possible is ideal, it is also important to develop strategies and tactics to manage these situations when they occur. In particular, checking in with our biological state, particularly in times where there is increased chaos, which may result from time pressured situations or having to do tasks we would prefer not to becomes very important so that we are able to implement body-based skills and tactics in order to shift back towards anchored and grounded states.
In the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, particularly in high demand domains, it is inevitable that we will have busy schedules and have many tasks which we may need to accomplish in a short period of time or those which we may prefer not to at all. In order to maintain anchored and grounded states as much as possible and, thereby, leverage our biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance it is important to develop the strategies and tactics discussed above.
To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, please visit www.darindavidson.com.
Dr. Darin Davidson partners with Learner+, a CME/CE reflective learning platform for healthcare providers. For the opportunity to reflect on this article and earn CME/CE credits, Launch here. Check out all past articles which are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits.
For downloadable, actionable strategies and tactics to leverage biology in the pursuit of health, wellbeing, and sustainable high performance, visit the resource store, Launch here. Chapters are arranged by topic so those of interest can be selected and each are also eligible for reflections and CME/CE credits through Learner+.