How to Manage Overwhelm

Hi, it's Donna-Marie here. What I want to talk to you about this week is overwhelm. You know those times when you've just got so many things to do and your to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer ... for every item that you cross off your to-do list you're adding another 3, 4 ... maybe even half a dozen things to your list. This is something that I've experienced but it's also something that I've helped a lot of my clients to deal with as well. It's quite natural to have those days now and then, where things just seem to be out of control and you just don't know where to start. So what I suggest in those situations is that you start by taking some time out. I know that can sound a little bit counter-productive in that you've got so much to do that you don't have time to take some time out. But it really is essential to just chill out and make a plan for how you're going to deal with things. What I find is best is usually to go somewhere away from all the hustle and bustle, the noise ... if you're in an office environment go somewhere where it's quiet, where you can close the door. Or even if you can go and sit somewhere in nature - if you can sit out near a tree or under a tree, in the park or something like that. Make yourself a cuppa or a cold drink, take pen and paper and start planning how you're going to deal with things. Start by making a list of everything that needs to be done - all these things that are overwhelming you. The first thing to do is go through and cross off everything that isn't essential. Sometimes we have all these things that we want to do and we make it harder for ourselves because, you know, we give ourselves these extra goals or we just want to over-achieve, but do we really need to do everything that we set out to? Sometimes it might be that you want to get all the housework done. Does it really need doing? Is it that your house is dirty and needs cleaning? Or is it just that you know that you clean once a week - or however often - and you haven't done it this week. So go through first of all and see what you can cross off - that you really don't need to be stressing over, that's just not that important. Next, go through and see if there's anything that you can reschedule. Things that you've got on your list today ... do they HAVE to be done today? It's all very good to be ambitious and try to achieve all that we set out to, but sometimes it's easy to give ourselves too much to do or to not really allow enough time to get certain tasks done. So see if there's anything that you can reschedule until you get caught up a little bit. Then go through and see what you can delegate. Now this might be things within your business - are there some sub-contractors you can pass on some of the work to? There's a lot of personal services companies around so maybe you just need someone who can just spend a couple of hours doing some errands for you. Or if it's a matter of trying to balance your personal duties with your business duties, maybe your family members can take on some of that responsibility. Can you delegate tonight's dinner to another family member - can someone else cook it for you? Or can someone else run some of those errands. You know, sometimes we take on too much ourselves and it doesn't hurt to delegate a little bit more. Now at this stage, your list should be pared down considerably. So at the moment you've got only those things that ONLY you can do and things that have to be done a.s.a.p. They can't be rescheduled, they can't be put off, they can't be delegated. Prioritise those. Work out which one you need to do first and then go and do it. Don't dilly-dally. Don't stress anymore ... just go and do that one thing. When that's done, do the next thing on your list. You've got a list of priorities, don't stray from those priorities. The other thing that I wanted to say is to always keep this in mind ... You need to KEEP IT FLYING. Now this is something that I learnt from a friend of mine, Jim Graham. Jim is ... he's very experienced with Facebook marketing and he actually used to be a pilot before he was a Facebook marketer. And this is something that pilot's are taught, that their job is to keep the plane flying. When things go wrong that - whether out of their control or not - when there's some sort of situation going on a pilot can't panic. A pilot can't get overwhelmed or a whole plane-load of people ... their lives could be at stake. So the pilot's job is to keep it flying and they have to avoid all other distractions, all other panic from other people around them and just focus on what they need to do to keep it flying. That's something that Jim taught me is that, in our role in whatever we're doing, whether it's business or in our personal life, when things get stressful and things get overwhelming we need to keep it flying. We need to calm ourselves down and just focus on doing what we can do and what is within our control. I've actually got a piece of paper on my desk ... I've got a message to myself with 'Keep It Flying' and I refer to it, particularly in stressful times. The final thing I wanted to say about overwhelm is that from time to time it can happen to all of us. If it's happening on a regular basis - if it's your daily lifestyle ... if it's a daily occurrence for you or even just a weekly occurrence, it may indicate that things aren't quite right in your business or in your life. Perhaps there's some other issues that you need to address, either you've taken on too much and you need to look at where you can pare back a bit. Or maybe your systems aren't really running that well. Maybe you need better systems. Perhaps you need more help, you might need more staff members or more help from your family and things like that. So make sure you schedule in some time to review your systems and your life and see if there's anything that you can improve to avoid becoming overwhelmed on a regular basis. Now if you liked this video and you haven't already subscribed for updates, please go to http://www.Donna-MarieCoggins.com and subscribe for updates so that you'll get an email each time we have a new video to share with more tips on how you can create a profitable business that fits in with your lifestyle. And please do feel free to share this video with others you think might like it as well. Bye for now.