What to do when overwhelm consumes you and your business? As the holidays are approaching, the end of the year, and dealing with a global pandemic, it can be easy to let overwhelm consume you. I want to offer some tips on how to not only handle overwhelm, but how to avoid it.
Exactly what is overwhelm? By definition it is being completely submerged by your thoughts and emotions about all of life’s current problems, to the point where you lack the ability to produce a desired or intended result. It can lead to you feeling frozen or paralyzed.
Let’s face it, starting and running a business is time consuming, energy draining, and extremely rewarding. It doesn’t come without some repercussions, though. A lot of us spend so much time consumed with the day-to-day activities of keeping the business running, we can become emotionally challenged.
What do we do when we are feeling this way? I am going to share with you three strategies to stop feeling overwhelmed every day so you can put an end to this feeling once and for all.
Strategy One: Mind Dumping to Manage Overwhelm
The first strategy is to mind dump what is going on in your life to get to the core of the situation or the stressor. You can identify where your focus needs to be. We only have so much focus, and as we try to spread the focus amongst so many things, we can find we are feeling a bit paralyzed. I am no stranger to the area of overwhelm. Over the last ten years, I have found myself there many times.
When emotions are high, our intelligence tends to be low. We have a harder time creating, processing, and moving. We have to find a way to release some of those emotions.
Strategy Two: Self-Care
Self-care is the second strategy I want to share with you. Self-care is a buzzword these days in the mindfulness industry. Great ways for self-care are:
- Exercise: a quick 30 or so minute walk each day. It doesn’t have to be a hard core workout.
- Consume water: make sure you increase your water consumption. Studies show we should consume half of our body weight in ounces of water. The brain needs water to perform properly.
- Eat better: We are the food we eat. Your nutritional intake can help with the brain’s performance and your overall performance.
- Practice gratitude: What we focus on expands. If we are open to abundance and focus on the things we are thankful for, it will expand. The mind is powerful and seeks more. Practicing gratitude also causes the brain to release serotonin, which helps stabilize our moods and happiness. To help with this, I use a nootropics product that helps your body to elevate all four hormones proven to be associated with “Happiness”, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins.
- Breathing techniques: Using breathing techniques to calm down the fear center of the brain is also very helpful. Practice the breathing technique with a deep inhale and a deeper inhale followed by a long sigh. Do this 5-10 times and feel the calmness overtake your body.
Strategy Three: Assess Focus
Third strategy is to assess what you are focusing on. Dan Henry teaches assessing his focus has brought him the most success. Limiting his focus. Focusing on fewer things so you can be productive. Download the FREE Overwhelm Worksheet to help you identify where your focus needs to be.
There are several things you can do to help prevent overwhelm. The first one is to practice time blocking. Time blocking is when you allow certain activities to take certain amounts of your day. For instance, perhaps I block out 1 hour per day for content creation, 1 hour per day for prospecting, 1 hour per day for sales calls, etc. After you have completed the overwhelm worksheet, you can identify what are the key things you need to do each day in your business, and block off time for each activity. Time blocking allows you to be proactive with your time management skills.
It may be time to invest in your business if you have found you are overwhelmed often. Perhaps it is time to invest in technology, consulting, coaching, a virtual assistant, or delegate more duties to others. Trying to juggle too many hats can lead to overwhelm really fast.
I understand if you are new to the business sector, perhaps you don’t have the financial resources to hire people. Look for others willing to trade out tasks you are better at. Look on Fiverr or Upwork to find someone to help. You need to make sure your activities are producing results and not just busy work.
The third step I would advise is to practice setting boundaries in your life and business. Learn the power of the word “NO”. It is okay not to do everything everyone wants you to do. People pleasing is a fast road to overwhelm and burnout in the business. Practice prioritizing what is a needle moving activity in your business.
There are multiple ways to prevent overwhelm. It just takes consistent and focused activities for you. If you would like to discuss some effective strategies for you, schedule a Free strategy call with me.