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<p><img src="https://pp.userapi.com/c636828/v636828418/4c59c/trFlZzAh3os.jpg" width="1024" height="768"/>Do you want to know what kept me awake Sunday night? I didn’t sleep well Sunday night. Well at first I did, but I woke up 5 1/2 hours later at 5.30 am and just couldn’t get back to sleep. I was lying there thinking of everything I had to do and frightening myself with all sorts of things that hadn’t happened yet!<br>
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<p>A lot of the time I can get myself back to sleep by either getting up and making a list of those so important things that I have to think about them at 5.30am (!) or, if it’s just general worry I do a bit of meditation, but in the early hours of Monday morning those methods just didn’t seem to be working. I’m sure this scenario sounds familiar! Why do we spend so much time keeping ourselves awake with worries and worries that we rarely, if ever solve, while where struggling to get back to sleep anyway! The result is only ever a very tired and low productivity day to follow.</p>
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<p>What was keeping me awake you may well ask? Well I’m experiencing a very steep learning curve the moment and every time I have the cheek to think that I feel confident about what I’m doing I find to my surprise (which shouldn’t really be a surprise at all as I’m aware that my business involves A LOT of work and constant learning) that I have 100 more things to learn and do! My stressing was a result of overwhelm.<br>
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<p>When you take on a new challenge in life, particularly career-wise, learning is most of the challenge, whether it’s learning the techniques and skills necessary to your trade or getting right down to the small details like remembering your new route to work, your way round the office, your co-workers names and eventually their idiosyncrasies, you’re going to be out of your comfort zone for a good while.</p>
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<p>There are 4 stages of learning that we experience and which are told about in Wikipedia: Unconscious Incompetence, Conscious Incompetence, Conscious Competence, Unconscious Competence. <br>
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<p>Happily there are many tasks in which I have achieved level 4, but there’s so many new things that I have to learn, I spent a part of every day at Level 1! If you get to stage 4 with some things and like me you know you have infinitely more things still to learn, it can get a little overwhelming at times. I’m not perfect by any means and I forget to practice my own advice sometimes. To be honest there’s no personal development guru out there that follows every bit of their own advice ALL of the time. (Not that I’m calling myself a guru you understand!)</p>
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<p>So here are 10 tips for you (and me!) to remember when feeling overwhelmed when we’re learning new things:<br>
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<p>1. Remember that there are 4 stages of learning and you can comfort yourself that this is the same for everyone; EVERYONE struggles at first.<br>
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<p>2. If you’re getting really stuck with something, it may benefit you to put your task to one side for a while (if you can). Sometimes, coming back a bit later and looking at it with fresh eyes can enable you to see an answer that you couldn’t see before.<br>
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<p>3. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things that you have to learn, stop, think, make a list and just work through things one at a time.<br>
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<p>4. Acknowledge that learning new things is difficult and most people give up at stage 2, so if you’ve got to that stage, spur yourself on by knowing if you get past stage 2, then you’re better than the average person!<br>
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<p>5. Ask for help; do you know anyone that may have any knowledge that can help you?<br>
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<p>6. Use available resources; if you’re stuck, research the internet, there’s information on there for just about everything.<br>
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<p>7. If you’re overwhelmed and on the point of giving up, have a chat with someone that you know supports you and often they’ll give you the boost that you need to pick up the baton and carry on. </p>
<p>8. Remembering that your journey IS going to be littered with both triumphs and troughs will help you continue as both are just part of the PROCESS and not particular to you. </p>
<p>9. Remember that the rewards of learning are well worth the effort. Without even thinking of the long term benefits, just the short term thrill of having conquered something difficult gives you a real buzz. </p>
<p>10. The more you’re learning, the more you’re increasing your value. It’s what you can offer others that will enable to you earn more and improve your lifestyle and long term happiness.</p>
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