Now while I confess to borrowing a page from the Dave Ramsey playbook on this one (i.e. the Debt Snowball concept), the original thought, for me at least, came from a conversation I had a while back with a coworker. This coworker was having a less than stellar day, and when the life coach in me just couldn’t help but ask questions, I soon found out that he had a laundry list of life issues that was just simply overwhelming when put all together. One thing piled upon another, and then another, and it didn’t take but a few minutes of conversation to feel and see the overwhelm in his situation.
After listening to his story, commiserating a bit, and asking a few coach-ish questions, I asked him if he had considered taking care of “Issue Z” on his daunting laundry list, which in theory was one of the least pressing things he had mentioned.
He looked at me like I hadn’t heard single thing he’d said.
I pressed on by pointing out the validity of taking care of the seemingly lesser of all his pending evils. We talked over a few possible solutions surrounding Issue Z, which brought to light a very promising potential ripple effect on several of his other difficulties.
He looked at me like I was a genius.
Some time ago, I created a small questionnaire for my upcoming wellness coaching package (a work in progress at the moment) which includes the following questions:
- What are the top 3-5 things you would like to change or make improvements on in your life right now?
- Of those 3-5 things, if you could snap your fingers and make just one of them instantly better, which one would it be?
Nine times out of ten, the answer is the biggest and most stressful issue in someone’s life, which is something they naturally want to spend their paid coach sessions tackling first.
So the Stress Snowball? Just like Ramsey’s Debt Snowball, the concept is as simple as taking the “smallest” of your conundrums, applying your savvy common sense (or should we say “cents” >wink wink<) and addressing that smallest issue until it is an issue no more. Then, with that little stinker gone, we have a little bit more time/energy/ability/passion to tackle the next biggest trouble maker on our crappola list. As that next biggest issue gets resolved, we move on with even more vim and vigor to the next thing, and then the next, and then the next thing you know, you are STRESS FREE!
Well, it’s an admirable goal, right? 😀
While I’m pretty sure a 100% stress free life isn’t realistically attainable (helloooooo, there will always be the question of what to fix for dinner 😛 ), I do think that applying the Stress Snowball method to life’s ever challenging laundry list has amazing merit!
Life is sometimes overwhelming. Things pile up and seem insurmountable and I speak from experience when I say that at times, it seems that there is just no way to get out from under the stress load we sometimes carry. We stare sooooo long at the great big mountain of our issues, and we fail to see that the seemingly unrelated simple task of spending a few moments picking out a new pair of hiking shoes would give us the solid footing we need to start climbing that mountain.
Make sense?
If the idea of getting started on a Stress Snowball in your life appeals to you and you want to some unbiased, outside perspective, help or ideas on how or where to start, please reach out. The first coach session is always free, or if the concepts of the Oh, ShiFt! program grab your attention instead, you can use the Self Awareness module as your free session.
Life is a journey, and we only get one run at it – give yourself the tools to make it the smoothest possible ride!
Savvy Lucidity Life & Wellness Coaching 