What to do when overwhelm strikes in business

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

I first read this definition of overwhelm on Brene Brown's website where she credits it to Jon Kabat-Zinn:

"Overwhelm is the all-too-common feeling that “our lives are somehow unfolding faster than the human nervous system and psyche are able to manage well.” Our bodies and minds are experiencing that quicksand feeling."

As we move into the slightly lighter days of Spring I find that overwhelm can set in for many of us business owners. 🌄

The New Year vibes have quietened down and summer is still a long way off.

Maybe working towards the goals you set at the beginning of the year isn't quite unfolding as you expected. It feels like they're slipping out of your grasp before you've even begun. 😌

Or maybe those goals seem boring now and you've already ripped them up and started a new version. 😎

Or maybe everything is going really well but now even more ideas are coming flooding in! 💡

For me, the thing that all of these have in common is that they lead to a feeling of untetheredness - of overwhelm.

It used to be common for me that hours or days or even weeks sometimes, could go by in this swirl of not knowing what to do next. It’s from those times that I have now have some go to strategies that I use to get grounded.

To quieten down the noise and either get back on track with my original plan or to make the changes I need to move back into action.

Here are my top five:

1. Do nothing

Or maybe more accurately, stop trying to figure it all out. Go for a walk, a run, or read a book, and allow your mind to wander unconstrained. For me, this creates a space of emergence, where by the end I know the one thing that I need to get after. Doing this repeatedly builds up a habit of taking small steps of imperfect action that adds up to more clarity and confidence.

2. Allow yourself a side project

These days, when I get surges of ideas I put a lot less effort into resisting them. If it's an idea that I'm really taken by I'll set aside some time in an evening or weekend to work on it to see if it's a keeper. I don’t change my whole website or get new social media handles or jump to creating a new sales page. But I do allow myself a contained amount of time to go down the rabbit hole and see where it leads. When I do this the ideas either fizzle out of their own accord, or they stick and I know it’s worth setting aside some focussed time to put them into action.

3. Stretch out your timelines

One of the common sources of overwhelm as a business of one is staying on track with all there is to do. If you have a plan and find that you’re just not sticking to it and instead everything is piling up, see if you can make things a bit more spacious for yourself by stretching out your timelines. For example, if you've committed to creating an article a week, can you make that once every two weeks or once a month even? Giving yourself an extra few weeks or moths to reach the goal in a way that feels good not only makes it more enjoyable, but also allows you to build trust in yourself for following through on what you’ve committed to.

4. Speak it out loud

As business owners, we can carry a lot in our head. Having the chance to talk it through with a colleague, a coach or a community group can make all the difference. It can help put things into perspective and stop those same thoughts cycling round and round on repeat. And if you don’t have a person on hand, then even writing a list can help get things out of your head and laid out in front of you.

5. Get off your screen

I discovered completely by accident that drawing really helps me untangle a web of internal overwhelm. Maybe it's the same for you, or maybe it's writing a poem or creating a piece of music, but something that helps connect back to the feeling of your work and the bigger picture of what it's all about.

Let me know if you give any of these a go or if you have any of your own to add. If you want help creating a plan that supports you in taking sustainable action without the overwhelm, then check out my half day strategy intensive that is designed for exactly that!