TED Talk Tuesday #217: An ER doctor on triaging your ‘crazy busy’ life

TED continues to spread ideas and help us all be better, critical thinkers. Watching, listening and talking about TED Talks is a popular pastime for many in the CN&CO community. We visit TED.com regularly to clear our heads, have a laugh, learn or get inspired. TED Talks open our minds, spark new ways of thinking and can lead to some very interesting conversations and business opportunities. It’s also a way that the CN&CO team play their part in spreading ideas and helping to make the world a better place.

This talk was chosen by Kate.

We are all too familiar with the overwhelming chaos that is life.  Some weeks may be more extreme than others, but life does tend to fill up quickly and if we don’t manage it properly, it will most likely overflow. During a particularly stressful time in my life, a friend shared a TED Talk by Darria Long with me.  Darria is an ER doctor whose day-to-day operations could not be more different to my own, but this talk resonated with me on so many levels, and her framework has stuck with me ever since.

Yes, we are all busy.  Trying to fit all things family, work and social related into a day, a week or even month can be challenging – and we can often hear ourselves describing our current state as ‘crazy busy’.  However, what we don’t realize is that subconsciously this one word, a simple adjective, can have a powerful impact on how we deal with this ‘busy’.

In her talk, Darria describes how ER doctors turn to triage, which enables them to make the shift from ‘crazy mode’ to ‘ready mode’.  They triage by degree of urgency which allows them to focus their efforts on what is most important.  By implementing this ability to relentlessly triage moments of, or the causes of stress in our day to day lives, we can prepare for it, own it and most importantly stop referring to is as crazy.    

Take a moment to watch Darria Long’s video as she shares a straightforward framework to help you take back control and feel less overwhelmed when life starts to get ‘crazy busy’.