AND 6 STRATEGIES TO TAKE IT HEAD ON!
My weekly LinkedIn Articles and FaceBook lives are designed to inspire and challenge you to take small, intentional action each week that together over the weeks and months that pass, have the effect of transforming your life. This week's topic – OVERWHELM!
I’ ll share with you about the 2 most common complaints related to overwhelm that I hear as a coach and what you can do about it! “I have lived a long life, most of which never happened.” ~Mark Twain, American Author Those who regularly follow me know I'm a lover of quotes. They make me reflect, they move me, they make me laugh/cry! This Mark Twain quote immediately took me to my work with clients on "overwhelm".
I'll start by sharing a little story.
Not too long ago I made a decision to create an online coaching business. It aligned perfectly with who I wanted to serve and how I wanted to blend my personal and professional life. So what did I do? I enlisted the help of a coach who could get me there. I very excitedly looked at all my materials in front of me, scanned through all the online tools I was going to have to master (many of which I had never heard of previously), and looked the time frame I had to complete it all in. And then it happened.
PANIC! OVERWHELM!
WHAT DID I DO? I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I was reminded, as I often am, of my dad saying to me during my sister’s long illness and subsequent bone marrow transplant: ONE DAY AT A TIME. My dad asked me back then, can you get through today? (To which I responded yes). Then he told me that was all I had to focus on. During that long and painful time (which thankfully has a good ending!) I learned that the only thing I had and still have complete control over is my mindset. We can't control much of what happens to us but we have 100% control of what we do and how we think when life happens to us.
SO WHAT ARE THE 2 MOST COMMON COMPLAINTS I HEAR RELATED TO OVERWHELM AND WHAT ARE SOME STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME THEM?
Common Complaint #1: There’s not enough time!
We all know that when forced to do something, suddenly the time is there. For example, you don’ t have time to fit in a dentist appointment until you have a cracked molar (true story – happened to me 2 weeks ago).
So what can you do? Here are 2 strategies for you to try: i) Decide if the thing you’ re saying there’s not enough time for is important or not. If it’s important, fit it in. If you decide it’s not, that’s fine – then it’s not! This could be the dentist, like in my case, friends, working out, cleaning your house, whatever. I can tell you that when you master this, it frees up a massive amount of space in your brain!
ii) Chunk it down – our brain loves chunks! There’s nothing more overwhelming than looking at giant task list wondering how you’ ll get it all done! Here’s an example – instead of giving yourself a whole day to do something – let’s say write my text for my entire website - chunk it down to one hour chunks. Our brains can handle that! No getting up to use the washroom or get a drink or do something with the kids or flip the laundry. That can wait until the one-hour chunk is done.
Common Complaint #2: There’s too much to do!
My loyal listeners and readers (Paula, Amelia, Roxanne, Cheryl, Tressa, Laurie, Johane) have heard me say this before: ever notice that whenever you ask someone how they are doing, you often hear “I’m good, but really busy.” Those 2 words alone - really busy - were a KEY driver for starting a coaching business for women. It truly pains me that women (and men!) actually say and feel this about their lives. Is this you? If so, I have 4 strategies for you to try:
i) Stop talking about how busy you are! Focus on what you enjoy what you do and the spaces in between the doing instead of focusing on the weight of it all.
ii) If you’ re so overwhelmed and don’ t even know where to start, ask for help! You know the expression “you can’ t see the forest for the trees”? We’ re all like that. It’s easier to solve someone else’s problems than our own. Ask a friend, find a mentor, or hire a coach. I assure you that you’ ll get from point A to point B much faster (and easier)!
iii) Get into reality. Look at your to-do list. And ask yourself some questions.
o What needs to happen right now?
o What can wait?
o Put these on 2 different lists. Hide the “wait” list.
o What are the big important tasks on the “now” list?
o What are the less important ones?
o You now have the most important ones clearly articulated. Do these! The little ones – give to someone else OR put them on the wait list
NEWS FLASH: YOU’RE NEVER GOING TO GET IT ALL DONE SO STOP STRESSING ABOUT IT!
iv) DELEGATE – is that a swear word for you? Lighten the load. Loosen control. I’ve talked about this before how many of us women are “gatekeepers”. We keep tasks to ourselves, even though we are overworked and living in overwhelm, because the people we delegate the task to won’ t do it our way. Who said our way was the right way anyway? I’ ll quote my mum here and I hate this one, but here you go and you’ re welcome “get over yourself”. You have 2 options here – delegate or stay in overwhelm.
“Do what you can in joy, instead of trying to do it all in misery.” ~Jen Sincero
So now I’d like to ask you - Which of these do you identify with and which tip are you going to try? If you’d like to get all of this info via email, sign up for my email list and you’ ll get 1 email a week for me – awesome content, quotes, inspiration and a challenge.
Louise H Reid is Empowering Women to Redesign & Rock Midlife🌟 Humanizing Leadership in Workplaces 🌟 Radio Show Host & Podcaster for All
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