3 Simple Steps to End Overwhelm

by | Nov 1, 2013 | Uncategorized

Does life ever overwhelm you?

Does juggling multiple projects for your business, seeing clients, kids’ activities, volunteer commitments, cooking meals, and housework leave you spinning?

You want to spend time, creating the life

and business you want, but instead, you find yourself bumping from one task to the next. Each commitment clamors for your attention, but all at once, and you slip into overwhelm.

This Halloween week was a flurry of activity: school festivals, church parties, hosting a couple parties at my house, launching a few business projects, and enrolling new clients. On top of that, our home welcomed out-of-town guests for a week.

Do you ever feel like you can handle a few projects, but that one extra thing or emotional trigger crumbles you?

Overwhelm (and depression) were my fallback emotional states in my past.

When asked to do one challenging task, my mind would spin and spin over the magnitude of the task. My brain would pick over every little thing that was going on in my life in a morbid defense of why it was impossible to perform.

I am overwhelmed. It is just too much. The little kid in me would whine.

And in the past, I succumbed. I used my depression as an excuse to show up small.

Since then, I cleared much of those old triggers. And I have learned how to end overwhelm.

Overwhelm is a disease of an imagination stuck in the groove of what if’s.

Feeling overwhelmed is a good clue you are not living in the present.
 
Since then, I have learned how to end overwhelm.

 

And here are 3 simple tips to end overwhelm once and for all:


1. 
The first step to end overwhelm is to take control of your thoughts
The spinning mind flits from one obligation to the next, and you feel paralyzed.Write down all the tasks that must be accomplished. Prioritize. Then,  you don’t have to keep regurgitating the same thoughts.
2. The second step is to focus.
You can counter the spinning thoughts, through focusing on the next task.What is the most important task you need to accomplish today?Compartmentalize your thoughts (men excel at this), and only focus on the next task that needs to be accomplished.
3. Commit to completing the next task.
I used to flit from one task to the next, but never completing anything. I carry the clean laundry into my bedroom. Soon, it piles up on my chair. The unfinished laundry becomes a nagging task circulating with all the other thoughts about unfinished tasks.When you commit to completing what you started, your mental energy has more power and focus. Focus is essential to creating success. The ability to focus is what separates the pros from the amateurs.

Know that overwhelm is an defensive measure that keeps us playing small.

Take a deep breath. Choose the next step.

How do you handle overwhelm?

Share your thoughts and successes with me in the comment box below.

2 Comments

  1. Eleanor Wilson

    I have walked in your shoes and about a month ago, decided to finish one thing at a time and to write a plan for the day. Cute children. Enjoy your emails and thank you.

    Reply
    • Tera

      Yes, it is so powerful to focus. Thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts, Eleanor.

      Reply

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