In the latest newsletter, we talked about how creating healthy habits is more important than setting goals (if you missed it, you can read it by clicking here).

In reality, wanting to create a new habit is a goal in itself, and when you have a destination in mind, it's natural to encounter unexpected challenges.

Today, we'll talk about how we all face our obstacles, the problems that cause us stress throughout the day and prevent us from achieving our balance and well-being.

Have we invented a revolutionary and innovative method to solve all life's problems? Probably not, but it works for us, and we want to share it with you! Maybe you'll find some food for thought to solve a problem that's bothering you right now.

Emergencies, no support... stress!

At work (we're not talking about Weekly Menu, but about an office job), projects start to pile up, everything is urgent, and colleagues often don't help, in fact... sometimes they even make client relationships more complicated. In short, the weight on our shoulders starts to be felt, causing stress that manifests in:

• thoughts outside work hours;
• general bad mood;
• unpleasant dinner conversations (work, work, and more work);
• seeking comfort-food.

All things we could well do without.

A "stress-busting" recipe

So, we decided to make a change by following this "recipe":

Time: all that you need
Difficulty: easy, you surely know how to write and think.
Ingredients:

• a sheet of paper (maybe more than one);
• a pen;
• an open mind.

Procedure:

1. on a piece of paper, start writing everything that's stressing you out, everything that's preventing you from living peacefully in the present.
2. The order, size, and topic aren't important. Write everything down.
3. "Even the fact that I haven't prepared lunch for tomorrow?" Yes, that too!
4. Now, take the problem that, if solved, will relieve you the most. We'll call it Problem-X!
5. Break down Problem-X into micro problems so that they are well-defined. Write them all down on the sheet of paper. It's important that everything is written down;
6. for each micro problem of Problem-X, define and write one or more clear activities and a time when you will perform those activities. Mark it on the calendar if it helps!
7. Continue like this for all the problems on the sheet.

Once you've defined the actions to take for everything that's currently causing you imbalance, you'll have a sort of "dictionary" of solutions that you can consult whenever your mind starts to dwell on that problem (and we know it will):

Problem: "The client expects a delivery date for the goods" Action: "Prompt colleague on Monday at 8:30 AM for a response" Problem: "I need to develop the next feature for Weekly Menu" Solution: "Analysis and start of development on Monday evening"

Divide and conquer

"Divide and conquer" is an approach also heavily used in computing and involves breaking down the problem into smaller problems, making them easier to solve.
Moreover, it also helps to realize that the bigger problem is solvable in the first place (how many times do you think, instead, "I'll never be able to do this"?).

As you can see, planning is the basis for solving these issues (not just for meal planning).

Our goal is to help you plan your well-being, and we like to share everything that can help you live a more balanced life. If you like, you can follow us on Instagram where we talk about many interesting things! For example, this is one of our latest posts: