In this post: In this post, I share my secrets for tackling overwhelm head-on — and the 5-part process I take myself through when I’m feeling bogged down by my to-do list.
Because as an entrepreneur, you have WAY better things to do than to get “stuck” in overwhelm or stay in a quicksand of stress, right?
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5 Step Process to Go From Overwhelmed to Feeling Empowered, Productive + Clear
I think that something we don't talk about enough as entrepreneurs is that sometimes, it's great that we can balance our lives and we can do what we want. But sometimes there's a lot to do. Probably, it's always both of those.
I don't know how many of you have been feeling lately, but I see all the time with my clients in UPswing Mastermind – we can hit waves of overwhelm and we can hit waves of feeling behind or having so much to do.
This is inherent for driven women, trying to get places in the world. We often take home a lot and every now and again, there will be times that we need to check and actually tidy up our overwhelm and take back our power. So we don't become victims to stories like, “Oh, I'm stuck!” or “I'm overwhelmed, poor me!”
Now, this happened to me this week. I felt things creeping in. I felt the backlog in my inbox and my messenger and all the places. By Wednesday morning, I woke up with quite a lot of anxiety and overwhelm. Honestly, there was no external reason for that. It was just that things had caught up on me and there was a lot to do and a lot to catch up on.
It's okay to feel overwhelmed, but it's not okay to choose to sit in victim of that.
It's absolutely something to clear. It's a choice. And sometimes we just have to take a little bit more like a spring clean, you know, to sort ourselves and get us back to a place of empowered, forward action.
And so I wanted to share with you the things that I did when I felt overwhelmed this week so you could do the same.
1. Get some accountability.
So the very first thing I did that morning was to give a quick message to two of my business besties, and seriously, this is why I only coach people in mastermind formats because you need like-minded people around.
What do I need to be reminded of? A very wise friend said to me, “We've got to remember that there are times that our “action days” or “doing days”, and from an energetic perspective, need a bit more work. It's when the energy does build up over time and we need to roll up our sleeves, get the muscle and work through it because what we're doing is clearing the way for the next flow cycle.” It’s just the reality.
Think of it this way – over time, you're going to have to go to the dentist and get your teeth cleaned. Even if you’re brushing them at home each day.
Or maybe like a detox. Even if you eat healthy every few months, you might have to go through a little bit of hard work more than you want to clear out your body a little bit more. And you know how amazing you’ll feel on the other side.
So that was the first thing my friend reminded me of – sometimes we have to work a little harder and every now and again, there'll be one or two days that are not as pleasant. We make it a hundredfold worse if we sit in victim and that's why I reached out for help.
We all need “doing days” like that, you know? It's easy to say sometimes like, “Oh, I'm behind or overwhelmed!” But are you actually doing some work? Because sometimes, you have to work more and it might be longer hours than you're used to, or it might be that you need to do a full day instead of a half-day. Be honest with yourself and hold yourself accountable, especially as entrepreneurs.
Get some accountability – that can be self-accountability. In my case, I reached out to two friends for accountability.
2. Clear the energy.
Then the next step I did was clear the energy. If you've got to stay in “stuck” energy, that's just not going to work. Here are some ways that I clear the energy:
Exercise
Go for a walk around the block
Do some dancing around the house
Journaling the emotions or the feelings
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tapping
There are different energy modalities that I also am trained in and I teach in the UPswing Mastermind. But there are some great ways to clear your energy, but for now, things like that would be your second step.
3. Decide to take massive action.
The third step then is to decide to take massive action. Self-ownership, 100% self-responsibility, and actually deciding to take action, to not be in that groggy, grumpy, overwhelmed state any longer because it is a choice.
Decide what that would look like for you. So for me, that was, I had 25 people that I had to get back to with heartfelt responses.
Initially, my inbox was at 70. I got it down to 25! I decided I was getting it done that day, no matter what. I avoided acting like a victim and making excuses. I made a firm, dedicated act to get my inbox down to zero.
4. Set a timeframe.
So back to the story where I have to send a heartfelt message to the remaining 25 people. One of my friends suggested that I sit for an hour and get it done.
My little monkey mind is like, “Well, this is going to take me more than an hour. That's not realistic!” But instead, I sat, my timeframe was to be done by 5:00 PM. And so then I chunk down the tasks. And I just started actioning, because sometimes we're trying to overthink and say things like “Am I going to do it the right way?” or “Should I bulk the task?”
I was very busy that day so I couldn't just do it all at once so eventually, I decided to message those people every break I had, every space I had of my day. I replied to one person in a heartfelt way. I actually started realizing some of them could be used as templates and I could just adjust things. I made sure that it was done by 5:00 PM.
We all have the same amount of hours in the day. And it is real that sometimes life gets on top of us. There's nothing wrong with that.
5. Reward yourself.
The final tip. And it's definitely a motivating tip – counteract all that hard work with something pleasurable at the end of the day or as some kind of reward.
Running a business is not always nice and fun, sometimes we have to have these days of doing hard work and if we let it slip, it might be a big day or two of hard work. And so setting a pleasurable reward at the end of the day.
So that was my process. I hope that helps many of you and really reminds you not to get stuck and overwhelmed.
We all get overwhelmed. The victim state of it is not empowered, Not serving you, not serving anyone else. No one's coming to save you.
Once you get one thing done, now it starts to snowball and you actually get addicted to the completion. What started off as a hard Wednesday to get through all these tasks has actually ended up being a massive productivity week.
So I hope that helps you. Keep it real. I go through this just like all of you do. But I choose not to get stuck there and I hope that you don't either.
Love,
Amanda xx
PS. Ready to create a purposeful package in your coaching business - and learn how to charge in a way that gets clients booked in with ease? Click this link to get instant access to the FREE training >> https://training.amandajdaley.com/packages
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