When you've run out of willpower

You decide today will be different.

You won’t let the work get to you.

You aren’t going to get overwhelmed or frustrated. 

You are just going to do the work and get out of there (with minimal damage to yourself). 

You brace yourself and start the day strong.

And it works for the first hour or two. You remind yourself you are strong. You summon all your willpower to not react when the requests for more and more work keep coming in, when you are being pulled in multiple directions.

You buckle down when you look at the clock and realize you are running behind.

You stay organized by keeping a list of what you need to get done during the day and keep coming back to it, even when it feels like it is becoming more monumental by the moment. 

You can do it. You push on.

You grit your teeth and put up with the constant interruptions to your workflow. You pull your energy into coming up with a treatment plan for a complicated patient.

You come back to the list. 

You're starving, is it really only 10am?

By noon, there is no more willpower. You wanted to have a good day, you planned to have a good day, you took steps to try and make it a good day.

And yet, you’re exhausted and only half-way through the day.

So, what happened? 

You’ve realized what anyone who’s ever been on a diet can tell you, willpower is a finite resource and there is only so much that willpower can accomplish. 

The answer, of course, is NOT to throw in the towel, to proclaim yourself defeated (even if you are feeling defeated at work right now.)

The answer is to take a different approach altogether. The answer is to create desire instead of relying on willpower. 

Does this sound weird to you? Probably.

If you WANT to be at work, if you desire to keep doing the work then you don’t need willpower at all (other than to maybe not hit snooze when the alarm goes off).

To illustrate the point, you don’t ever need to call on willpower to have another cookie. Your desire for the cookie makes it a no-brainer.

Here’s the good news. You already have the underlying desire to do the work or you wouldn’t have chosen this profession to begin with. The key is to bring your attention to this during the day. 

I WANT to help my patients decrease their pain.

I WANT to take time with my patients, to hear their story, to hear the parts of the story they aren’t even saying. 

I WANT to use every part of my brain, all parts of my education and experience, to work hard to find a treatment plan that works for the patient.

I WANT to be supportive of my coworkers.

I WANT to be patient with myself and with my staff when I run behind. 

I WANT to remind myself that I am the perfect person for this job.

I WANT to be the person who can acknowledge the negative thoughts about work that I may be having and reframe to see what else may be true in the moment. 

I WANT to do even the annoying parts of the job if it means providing for my family. 

I WANT to not complain about work, it feels terrible.

I WANT to reset and try again when I lose sight of WHY I am doing this.

I WANT to be the person who can keep resetting, who can be patient with myself as I keep up the practice of building desire instead of relying on willpower.

It isn’t just positive thinking, none of these statements say that the job isn’t hard. It’s choosing powerful thoughts that can help you feel restored by the work instead of drained. 

Doesn’t that sound so much better?

With practice, this one exercise can change your whole experience of work. And when you aren’t suffocated by work, you have more room to breathe in all the other important aspects of your life. 

Breathing is better than overwhelm 🙂

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If you feel like your work is draining your ability to enjoy your life, reach out. I have been in this exact situation and have overcome it. I want to help you do the same. Email me at Megan@NursingBeyondtheJob.com to set up an appointment for a consultation. You were meant to be a nurse, don’t let the overwhelm convince you otherwise.