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5-MINUTE FRIDAY: The Helpful Tool I Use To Navigate Overwhelm · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Emily Badi here. You are listening to five
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: minute Friday. Wow. Wow, Wow, what a week. I am
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: recording this moments before the chaos ensues. I'm out in California,
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: so excited to be here in Los Angeles, hosting Campstrava,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and I have to tell you something. This is the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: most I want to say. Anxious feels like an overstatement,
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  Speaker 1: but I've certainly had anxiety this week, and I've definitely
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: felt some overwhelm and it's not because I'm not excited
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: or amped on what I'm about to do on Thursday.
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  Speaker 1: You're listening to this on Friday, so I understand this
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  Speaker 1: is kind of a future backtrack moment. But I have
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  Speaker 1: felt like in my chest, in my body so much
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  Speaker 1: energy this week, and it's because I know that I
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  Speaker 1: care so much about not only being a part of
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  Speaker 1: a very big moment for a brand, as I've had
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  Speaker 1: the opportunity to do before, but also putting my best
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  Speaker 1: self out there. And I say this knowing that this
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  Speaker 1: isn't the first time that I felt this way. I
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  Speaker 1: have certainly done a number of things, both in my
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  Speaker 1: career and in my personal life that have made me anxious,
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  Speaker 1: made me feel overwhelmed, made me feel some kind of way.
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  Speaker 1: But by now, what I have learned is that I
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  Speaker 1: have the tools within me to navigate this. And that's
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  Speaker 1: what I want to talk to you about today, how
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  Speaker 1: I deal with these situations where I'm feeling anxious, where
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  Speaker 1: I'm feeling this sense of overwhelm, where intrusive thoughts are
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: coming in. Yesterday, I woke up at an ungodly hour.
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  Speaker 1: Keep in mind, I'm on the West Coast. I'm an
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  Speaker 1: early morning person on the East coast already. So by
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  Speaker 1: four am, I was awake, looking around and thinking to myself,
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  Speaker 1: what is within my power right now to help with
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  Speaker 1: how I'm feeling. And so I grabbed my journal and
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  Speaker 1: walked out to the lobby and sat down with my headphones,
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  Speaker 1: and I started by doing some breathwork using the open
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  Speaker 1: hap And then after my three minutes of breath work,
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  Speaker 1: I opened my journal and I started to write. And
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  Speaker 1: what I started to write was very intentional. I started
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  Speaker 1: to write, I am statements, and I am statement is
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  Speaker 1: a statement that is true, which is fact. It is
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  Speaker 1: not based on a feeling. So a feeling statement would
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  Speaker 1: be I feel anxious, and I am statement is I
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  Speaker 1: am confident. I am someone who is good at public speaking.
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  Speaker 1: I am someone who works with big brands regularly. I
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  Speaker 1: am the type of person who is reliable. And I
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  Speaker 1: literally wrote down I'm not even exaggerating, probably twenty different
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  Speaker 1: I AM statements, and I sat there and I read them,
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  Speaker 1: and I read them again, and I even talk to
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  Speaker 1: myself a little bit out loud, And by the end
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  Speaker 1: of this let's say, ten minute exercise, I felt so
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  Speaker 1: much more rooted in what I knew to be true.
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  Speaker 1: Because this is what happens with intrusive thoughts. We are
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  Speaker 1: not our thoughts, but our thoughts happen, and when they happen,
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  Speaker 1: we have the choice to decide how we react to
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  Speaker 1: those thoughts. And so when these feelings of anxiety, when
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  Speaker 1: I'm feeling overwhelmed, when this happens, I have an understanding
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  Speaker 1: now because of the tools that I am equipped with,
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  Speaker 1: that I can respond in a way that serves me
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  Speaker 1: rather than letting that anxiety and overwhelm infiltrate my being
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  Speaker 1: because we don't have time for that. So this I
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  Speaker 1: AM exercise is something that you can truly use anywhere
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  Speaker 1: you are doing anything, in any situation. Again, maybe it's
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  Speaker 1: a meeting at work, maybe you're going on a date,
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  Speaker 1: maybe you are feeling frustrated with your overall health and
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: wellness journey. Whatever it is that's important to you that's
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  Speaker 1: making you feel some kind of way, that's stirring up
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  Speaker 1: that some sort of feeling in your chest. I want
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  Speaker 1: you to know that you have control to respond to
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  Speaker 1: your thoughts and that you are not your thoughts. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it felt really good. It really felt good to not
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  Speaker 1: only do that, but then I'll be speaking on a
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  Speaker 1: very large stage and to stand on that stage and
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  Speaker 1: visualize what the room would look like and put myself
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  Speaker 1: in that situation also a really helpful technique. So my
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  Speaker 1: thought prompt for you this week, what are you write
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  Speaker 1: down five I AM statements that you can read back
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  Speaker 1: to yourself and stand grounded in who it is that
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  Speaker 1: you really are. Again, who are you? Give me five
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  Speaker 1: I AM statements that are grounded in who you really are.
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  Speaker 1: And now a listener question.
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  Speaker 2: Hi, Emily, I love your show so very much. I've
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: been listening to it for years and I look forward
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  Speaker 2: to every five minute Friday. In particular, my question has
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  Speaker 2: to do with planning. I am a huge planning and
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  Speaker 2: planner afficionado, and I'm always interested in how people plan
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  Speaker 2: out their goals days, weeks, months, et cetera. I'd love
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  Speaker 2: to hear about your processes if you have any in particular. Thanks.
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  Speaker 1: Oh you know I love goal setting. Okay, this is
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  Speaker 1: a good one. So for me, my goal setting process
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  Speaker 1: for the last few years has been pretty much consistent,
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  Speaker 1: and that leading into a new year, I sit down
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  Speaker 1: and I write out goals. I write out goals that
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  Speaker 1: I want to be both habitual and then also destination goals.
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  Speaker 1: So a habitual goal is something like I want to
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  Speaker 1: drink five glasses of water a day, a landmark goal.
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  Speaker 1: A destination goal is something like I want to run
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  Speaker 1: the New York City Marathon in November. And then after
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: I make my list of goals and I root them
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  Speaker 1: in a few different key areas including health, finance, relationships, career,
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  Speaker 1: mental health, and well being. I then break them out
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  Speaker 1: into quarters. So I ask myself, what is it that
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  Speaker 1: needs to happen within a thirteen week period for me
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  Speaker 1: to get closer to where it is that I want
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  Speaker 1: to be. And some of these goals, like I said,
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  Speaker 1: are habitual, so that is less applicable here. But if
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  Speaker 1: I am writing out a goal that I want to
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  Speaker 1: earn twenty five thousand dollars in the first quarter of
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  Speaker 1: the year. Then I backtrack from that goal and ask myself,
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  Speaker 1: what are some milestone goals that I can set that
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  Speaker 1: helped me get to where I want to be. So,
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  Speaker 1: back when I was freelance writing, for instance, if the
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  Speaker 1: goal was twenty five K in a quarter, then I
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  Speaker 1: would need to make about seven K a month. I'm
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  Speaker 1: doing quick math. Let it be known that I was
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  Speaker 1: a journalism major in college and I am not good
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  Speaker 1: at math. But to secure that seven K per month,
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  Speaker 1: I would then do everything I could to get a
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  Speaker 1: certain amount of confirmed assignments going into each month with
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  Speaker 1: a little extra wiggle room, knowing that I had the
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  Speaker 1: bandwidth and the capability to secure more as the weeks
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  Speaker 1: went on, and by scheduling myself in that way, by
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  Speaker 1: thinking forward in that way, by preparing in that way. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it takes a little bit more energy, bandwidth and planning upfront,
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  Speaker 1: but I promise you that legwork is going to get
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  Speaker 1: you to where you want to be, especially when you
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  Speaker 1: have a strong why. Because when you have a strong why,
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  Speaker 1: you have a way. So I do this annual goal
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  Speaker 1: setting personal summit. I check in with myself quarterly. I
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  Speaker 1: also make sure to sit down every quarter with one
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  Speaker 1: of my best friends and we speak our goals into
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  Speaker 1: existence and talk about plans and purposes and whatnot. And
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  Speaker 1: this has been a really good way for me to
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  Speaker 1: go after the things that excite me and do want
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  Speaker 1: it is within my power to level up. So I
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  Speaker 1: hope that was helpful. I love talking about goal setting.
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  Speaker 1: So if there is any other sort of knowledge intel
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  Speaker 1: you want on this, If you have another question of
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: any sort, I'm all ears. You can leave me a
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: voice message in the show notes. There's a link to
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: do that get your voice featured on the show. I
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  Speaker 1: would love to talk to you about it. That's it
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: for this week. I'm over at Emily a Body and
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: at Hurdle Podcast. Another Hurdle Conquered. Catch you guys next time.