How to deal with overwhelm

As business owners, and as people, we often have lots on our to-do list, numerous plates to spin and simply plenty to think about. Sometimes it gets too much and that is when we start to feel overwhelmed. Whether it’s trying to stay up to date with your social media marketing, fulfilling customer orders, preparing presentations and pitches or just your staff wanting all sorts of things from you. If this sounds like where you currently are, then here are a few tips on how to deal with overwhelm.

1. Take a break

When you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s very difficult to do anything effectively. So, take a break. It doesn’t have to be a big break either; it can be just a five-minute walk outside where you can take a breather and get some fresh air.

The important factor here is that you remove yourself from your normal environment. It’s more likely you will be able to refresh and get into the right frame of mind to tackle what’s creating the overwhelm.

2. Make a list

This may be very scary because the list may be very long however, it can also be therapeutic. Separate the list into ‘personal’ and ‘business’ and create an inventory of what is on your mind. You can even sub-categorise the lists into the people who are involved such as children, partners, employees etc.

While this list might look daunting, it also explains the reason you are feeling overwhelmed in the first place. Creating this literal list is a great place to start.

3. Prioritise

The next step is to prioritise this list into 3 areas: 

• Needs to be done today or this week
• Needs to be done this month
• Anything that has a 1-month deadline or more

There is no point into looking past the 2 month point because you’re going to be focusing on you #1 priorities and everything will start to shift upwards if you tackle the top of the pile.

By doing this, you are giving yourself space because you are not looking to tackle everything at once. It also helps you delete items that aren’t urgent or perhaps even delegate to someone else, meaning you will reduce that overwhelm.  

4. Start with some quick wins

When it comes to dealing with the items on your list, start with the quick wins first. These are tasks that will take anything between 5 minutes and half an hour. The reason why you’re doing this is because while the quick wins may not be the most important to complete, ticking them off your list will make your feel good.

When you’re in this feeling of overwhelm, it’s very easy to get stuck there until you don’t want to do anything at all. If you start to tick items off the list, you will start to feel positive and this in turn will help you take further action.

5. Eat that Frog

Your frogs are the longer items on your list and often the ones you have spent ages trying to avoid. Frogs don’t have deadlines either because if it did, you would likely get it done. They’re simply tasks that would have a big impact on your business if you did them.

They’re often unpleasant tasks such as cleaning up your database, sorting out your accounts or creating a nurture campaign.

Eating one frog a day or a week is the best way to ensure they don’t pile up and you have numerous frogs to chomp down on at once (because that would be overwhelming in itself).

6. Look after yourself

In all of this, it is incredibly important that you practise self-care. Make time for that exercise class, get that fresh air, sleep the hours your body needs to heal, drink water and eat healthily – but do it all without putting too much pressure on yourself, as we all need treats to motivate and reward ourselves with. 

When you’re tired with a headache, and completely burnt out, you’re not going to achieve anything. However, if you’re relaxed and feel good, then you can tackle everything – frogs and all. 

Follow these steps and before you know it, you’ll be calm, collected and enjoying life again.