Overwhelmed? 7 Strategies To Help You Realign
Overwhelm. Too much to do and not enough time. Too many things and not enough resources. Too many people, too many expectations, too much riding on these things getting done.
The sources of overwhelm are many, and it can certainly seem impossible to make any real progress toward your goals when it feels like the walls are caving in on you. But contrary to what many might believe, feeling overwhelmed is actually not a result of the conditions around you. Rather, it is a direct reflection of your personal perception of the things that need to get done, when they need to get done, and their relative importance in achieving your overall goals.
In no way am I trying to discount your feelings, I totally get it: you feel like you’re drowning, but you want to feel like you’re steering the ship toward all the earthly treasures. Maybe you think that all you need is a shorter to-do list, and in some ways that’s right – but you don’t need anything in your situation to change in order for that to happen (yay!).
What you really need is to feel better so that you can go about using your naturally exceptional mental resources to conquer the great things you were put on this planet to do.
Good news is that is TOTALLY possible, COMPLETELY in your control, and something you can actually do RIGHT NOW.
The fact is this: you’re not going to jump from feeling overwhelmed and frustrated to being happy and joyful in one fell swoop. It takes a series of small mindset changes in the direction of peace, love, and joy before you will actually end up there. But as long as you keep feeling better and better and start garnering some momentum in the right direction, your decisions and priorities will naturally become more aligned, and you can start taking the inspired (ie: not forced) actions that lead you to your goals with ease. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy at its absolute best.
Here are seven key strategies to help few ideas to get you in the right mindset, so you can start using that beautiful mind of yours to achieve all the earthly pleasures you desire. If you like them, make sure to sign up for the FREE Cultivate Your Career Course, your definitive guide to creating a career that fuels your life.
1. Practice letting a ball (or two) drop.
Many of us overachieving, type A people dread the idea of dropping a ball. Sometimes we don’t even like passing the ball to someone else, for fear that they will drop it. As an interesting experiment, try letting a ball drop. Start with something small, where the calculated risk isn’t so big, and just don’t complete it by your self-imposed deadline. Does that email really have to get sent today? Do I really need to set up that meeting for first thing on Monday morning, or can it wait until the afternoon? Is there some slack you just can’t help but pick up for your useless colleague? Let it drop. The world will not end, I promise. Worst case, this gives you an opportunity to practice setting and sticking to boundaries with the people who keep crossing the line.
2. Ditch the guilt.
Guilt is designed to tell you when you have done something that is against your moral code, and it serves many important roles. But if you’re feeling like you are suffocating under your own list of responsibilities, it’s time to consider how much worse you’re making yourself feel by piling on the guilt about not getting things done (or not being perfect, or not living up to some other unrealistic expectation, etc.). When guilt becomes unproductive, it’s time to practice dropping it – you are so much more than just what you do. Can you reschedule an inconvenient meeting at a time that works better, and practice feeling empowered rather than guilty? Can you take a half-day “mental health” day to do nothing other than relax, and practice enjoying your time on this planet as a human being?
3. Schedule Time To Plan.
Many of are really good at making lists. We know what needs to get done, we stick to deadlines, but we also don’t tend to schedule a lot of room in our calendars for “downtime”. If you’re not quite ready to plan for your leisure activities, at least start with scheduling time for planning. Set aside an hour or two to really look at your list of things to do and decide how long they will take, and when you would like to complete them. Consider getting an accountability partner to help discuss your list and help to determine a realistic plan of action – everything sounds more crazy inside your own head.
4. Do The Task You Dread The Most, First.
Procrastination and overwhelm are two sides of the same coin: the more we procrastinate the more overwhelmed we are. The more overwhelmed we are, the more difficult it is to start. Try completing your most dreaded task very first thing in the morning – it will make your entire day go by smoother and release some of that weight on your shoulders.
5. Take A Few Minutes To Meditate.
When you’re overwhelmed, you’re in your head. Our brains are wired to be constantly thinking, and much of that thinking goes on in the background without us even really knowing what is being said! Meditation allows you to start becoming aware of what your mind is thinking, and give you a little bit of space to decide if you even believe it or not. You might be amazed what you hear once you start listening.
6. Talk to Somebody.
Our minds are beautiful things, but they can also really jumble everything up sometimes. Sometimes just speaking your concerns out loud can take a huge weight off your shoulders. Have you ever been worried about something, and then you mentioned it to a friend, and realized immediately how crazy or irrational it sounded? Talking to a good listener is guaranteed to help give you some clarity, and at least loosen up some of those mental knots so you can get back to your usual rational decision making.
7. Have a Little Faith, Maybe?
Things always have a way of working out, don't they? Even if your mind is absolutely set on one way of doing things, if the universe has a something different in mind, who you think is going to win that battle? Remember, things shouldn’t feel so treacherously hard. When you’re actions come from a place of inspiration, they always feel good. Can you remember a time when you stayed up so late working on a project that you were excited about? Maybe it was just something as simple as coding the html for your MySpace profile, or organizing photos for an album, or writing about a cause you feel passionate about – when action is inspired, it never feels like effort. If you’re grinding trying to get everything done to the point where nothing feels fun, it could be time to take a step back and evaluate the path you’re on. Why am I doing this, again? Like we said at the beginning, it’s all about perspective.
Tired of feeling like you lost your way a long time ago? Desperate for some kind of compass to get you back on track?