How to manage your goals in a stressfull work condition?

[Carabas]

Hi Everybody,

I just startet my first 6 week challenge this week, and i couldn't forefill any of my goals.

The reason. I work as a nurse in a hospital and the last week was one off the hardest that i've ever had. And with hard i mean both, physikal and mental. When i came home in the afternoon, i was so torn out that it felt like i had no energy at all left.

 

so my question to you is: What do you do to keep up Training under such conditions? And is it even healthy to train, when you're allready tor out?

 

Thanks for your answers,

Carabas

[Sambalina]

Hey Carabas - nice to have you here on Nerd Fitness!

I had a very stresfull and hard work week last week too, and will for the next two weeks as well. I am keeping up with my training regime, but have definitely found that I can not work out with the same intensity as before - not eve close! My brain thinks 'Ok! Let's do this!', but my body is like 'haha, yeah.... nah, you can't lift that today". So, I am training, but I am taking it easy. 

 

Thing is, although I'm a bit bummed out at having to de-load and lift weights I moved past a few weeks ago, it's keeping the habit that's important. So, if this stress is constant for you, maybe try to focus on gentle habit building rather than the intensity of your workouts, and use them as stress relief rather than another source of stress.

 

I'm sure some of the more experienced folks here will have some more advice for you. And remember, you can always talk to us for some motivation or understanding

 

Best,

Sam

[Misugrrl]

Hey there

Working out for me has turned into my 'me' time. Time that I set aside, just for myself, that is sacred and holy and no one is allowed to intrude on. I take my ipod loaded with workout music/podcasts, and step into that elliptical or slide into that weight machine, and I'm in my own little world, where I focus only on myself.  It has become my method of handling my stress, and on days where there is just a lot going on at work, I may not perform as well as I wanted to, but I still went and dedicated that time to myself.

 

Maybe if you flipped your thinking on how you looked at working out and your other goals, and think of them as moments in time you dedicate to just yourself (ie, you think of them as presents to yourself instead of a chore, like doing laundry or cleaning your bathroom), maybe you'll get that extra little bit of energy to do them?   I know that when its something I want to do - like say, go to the movies with my guy, or go out to dinner with my friends - and my schedule is insane and I'm stressed and tired, if it's something I want to do, something that I view as fun and a gift to myself, I just have the energy for it and do it.  The gym/exercising is the same for me.  Maybe that would help?

[girljen]

Physically exhausting is good.  Celebrate small victories:  Hey, maybe I didn't get a proper workout today...but I lifted that super heavy patient and restrained that other super heavy patient and the only chance I had to sit down was when I was in the bathroom.  Win!

[Carabas]

Thanks for your answers. I hope i can do better this week by trying to cut down on the intensity, instead of the frequency

 

Physically exhausting is good.  Celebrate small victories:  Hey, maybe I didn't get a proper workout today...but I lifted that super heavy patient and restrained that other super heavy patient and the only chance I had to sit down was when I was in the bathroom.  Win!

 

I don't really think that this kind of physical excerciese adds to my health or my goals. Most older collegues have back-problems and other stress and lifting related health problems.

 

 

Maybe if you flipped your thinking on how you looked at working out and your other goals, and think of them as moments in time you dedicate to just yourself (ie, you think of them as presents to yourself instead of a chore, like doing laundry or cleaning your bathroom), maybe you'll get that extra little bit of energy to do them?   I know that when its something I want to do - like say, go to the movies with my guy, or go out to dinner with my friends - and my schedule is insane and I'm stressed and tired, if it's something I want to do, something that I view as fun and a gift to myself, I just have the energy for it and do it.  The gym/exercising is the same for me.  Maybe that would help?

 

My problem is always the start. When i'm allready traing I enjoy it most of the times. Its compareable to getting up in the morning, when you're up and under the shower, its no problem anymore, but when you're lying under your sheet it seems like a horribly hard thing to get your feet out of the bed.

I think changing my thinking about training could really be a helpfull thing, but how do you do it, i haven't found a motivation switch in my brain so far

[Evicious]

Thanks for your answers. I hope i can do better this week by trying to cut down on the intensity, instead of the frequency

 

 

I don't really think that this kind of physical excerciese adds to my health or my goals. Most older collegues have back-problems and other stress and lifting related health problems.

 

 

 

My problem is always the start. When i'm allready traing I enjoy it most of the times. Its compareable to getting up in the morning, when you're up and under the shower, its no problem anymore, but when you're lying under your sheet it seems like a horribly hard thing to get your feet out of the bed.

I think changing my thinking about training could really be a helpfull thing, but how do you do it, i haven't found a motivation switch in my brain so far

 

First, yes, definitely keep up the habit. Even if all you do is go to the gym and do 1 set of everything, it keeps your brain in the right mindset - and mindset really is everything in life.

 

Second, I understand that the nursing field can be extremely taxing on the body. That being said, when you identify a potential problem, the next step is to try find possible solutions, right? So knowing that there is a good chance you could hurt yourself when lifting heavy patients or by constantly being on your feet or by having to lean over patients hundreds of times a day means you need to think about how you can prevent all those things from hurting you.

 

Some things to think about may be:

 

- Mindfulness about how you lift: always bend from the knees and the hips, and try not to round your back. Practice deadlifts, squats, and lunges to increase your strength in your legs and lower back.

 

- Remember to stretch whenever you get the chance: waiting for your coffee? Do some shoulder shrugs or roll your head gently from side to side to decrease some of your muscular tension (helps prevent headaches too, to an extent). Sitting down to do paperwork? Set the papers down and stretch to touch your toes for a few seconds before you take a seat. When you go out to your car after your shift, take a second to do some static lunges at the door to relax your calves a bit.

 

- Know what you eat, why you're eating it, and how much you're eating: doctors and nurses are FAMOUS for embodying the "do as I say, not as I do" premise, often times because they are so stressed and rushed that they forget about taking care of themselves. Remind yourself that you are only as good at your job as you are to yourself: if you are feeding yourself unhealthily, then you are going to feel unhealthy, and that is going to affect how you do your job.

 

Most importantly, NEVER underestimate the value of movement to the body. Whether it's just taking the stairs or spending 3 hours in the park playing fetch with your dog, movement affects every cell in the most important way - it generates life. I don't think a single scientific study done yet has concluded that limiting movement while awake and able to move aids existence in any fashion. So congratulate yourself when you've done a hard day's work, like girljen said, because it IS an accomplishment in and of itself. Aaaaand you've proven, once again, to yourself and everyone around you, that you are a valuable member of the team and that you are capable on multiple levels of contributing to the goal. There's a reason not too many people make it as nurses: you are a rare and precious commodity, and don't ever let yourself think otherwise.

 

Lastly, when it comes to getting started doing things, I think that IJo (another NF member) puts it best: don't make it an option. You have total control over everything you do in life, from whether or not you hit the snooze button 5 times or get up immediately when your alarm goes off, to whether or not you go into work today or just decide to stay home. I'm not saying the consequences would be pleasant in either scenario, but I am saying that you have the power to choose either one regardless. 

 

I don't know what it is about the past few generations of society in America, but it seems like a lot of people have gotten into the mindset that they can't control what they do if they don't feel like doing it. Remarkably, that ISN'T the real human condition: turns out that feelings have zero effect whatsoever on our ability to accomplish a task. You can hate-hate-HATE decompacting patients all day long, but you still choose to do it when the time comes that it has to be done. And that's the first piece of the key to motivation right there: you do what needs to be done, regardless of how you feel about it.

 

You've already proven to yourself billions of times over throughout your life that you can control what you do in spite of your feelings about doing it. So when it comes to taking that first step and getting to the gym after a long, rough day at work you teach yourself to ignore how you feel and (free advertising for Nike here) JUST DO IT. If you're anything like me, that probably means you're going to spend the entire trip there compromising with yourself, "Ok, I'll go and I'll walk in there, but if I'm not feeling motivated after even 5 minutes, I'm leaving!" And that's perfectly fine. It's even fine to get in there and decide you really DO want to go home instead - and then go home. Because the funny thing is that what happens to most people once they've taken that first step (ie, just walking through the gym door) is that suddenly the task doesn't seem so bad anymore. Suddenly, they feel like "Well.... I'm here.... I guess I could at least knock out a few reps before I go...." And magically those few reps morph into a few more, and then become a few sets, and then a whole different exercise with its own sets and reps, and so on and so forth.

 

The second half of the key to motivation is that after "doing what needs to be done, in spite of how you feel about it" a couple of times, it becomes a lot easier to do the part that you didn't really look forward to doing. The longer you keep it up, the easier it becomes, until one day it isn't unpleasant at all anymore: that's when your brain has fully assimilated the reward part (feeling good about working out, feeling good when working out, feeling good after working out) to the getting one foot in the gym door part. You now enjoy every part of the experience, and so are motivated to do it, even after a hard day at work.

 

And I said all that to explain what IJo said/says, "Don't make it an option". That's how you install a motivation switch in your brain.