7 Ways to Manage your Overwhelm
Feeling overwhelmed and ready to just walk away? You are not alone. Many entrepreneurs experience this. Some more regularly than others. The point is that feelings of overwhelm sometimes comes with the territory of growing a business. Because there are things you cannot control; life happens and sometimes the ball drops. Now I am not going to talk to you about work-life balance…if that even exists, but, I am going to share with you 7 ways I have learned to manage feelings of overwhelm. In a previous post, I asked if you were mentally prepared to run a successful business, but let’s go much deeper and discuss how you manage these feelings that are bound to pop up as you grow your business and what you can do:
1.Delegate
If you have staff, delegate!!!!! You are not super person and yes you may know the business, inside and out but there is a reason you do have a team. Plus, you want them to know the business intimately enough so that you can take a week- or month-long vacations and the business continues to prosper. How will that happen, if you are the only person doing everything in the business?
Start slowly delegating tasks to your staff and ensure that you educate them on how each task affects the functioning of the whole business. Get their buy-in and opinions. For all you know, they may suggest making the task less tedious. But, you will never know until you ask!
2. Ask for help
You may be thinking this is the same thing as delegating. It is but it isn’t. We all have personal lives. And in addition to growing a business, we may be juggling a family and other external commitments. One of the biggest flaws of most entrepreneurs is that we do not like to ask for help. Your family and friends would love to help you with these non-business related tasks. All you have to do is ask. And be specific about what that help will look like and be grateful and thankful when they do…even if they do not do it exactly as you would.
3. Create time blocks
Decide when things must be done. Because everything cannot be done on a Monday morning when you are bursting with energy. Create slots of times weekly for each income generating task to be completed. This way at the end of the day and the week, you can easily see what has been accomplished and you can celebrate your wins both big and small.
Dedicate time for emails. Time for blogging. A time for your accounting. Time for content creation. Doing this will ease up a lot of the pressure you put on yourself to get everything done immediately!
4. Hire staff
Hire staff! Sooner rather than later. I know there is a sense of glory in being a one-man show, but you can only sustain that for so long if you intend to grow and expand. Start small. Hire one person on a part-time basis and test out how it works for you. This will also help to get some of the work off your plate so you can stay focused on the income-generating aspects of your business. Hiring staff does not have to be costly once done correctly.
Create a job spec and ensure that the work that they are required to complete is bringing back the income into your business so you can pay them.
5. Stop being hard on yourself
Become your biggest cheerleader. Our active imagination sends us into a tailspin sometimes. We beat ourselves up about the progress we made or the things we should have done or did not do well enough…in our estimation. We constantly say negative things about ourselves and always feel that we are not doing enough. Time to stop that crap!
Once you are actively working on your business every day, you should celebrate it. Some people have not even been able to start. Every small step is a victory and means you are closer to your goal. While you are being hard on yourself, somebody looking on is in awe of what you have been able to do.
6. Take a break
Self-care is not just some fancy words people throw around. Everybody needs it. It gives your brain and body time to rejuvenate and even sparks more creativity. Scheduled breaks are a must. I know there is an illusion that as an entrepreneur you should be working Sunday to Sunday on your business, but that mindset and that belief are exactly what leads to burn out and feelings of overwhelm.
It was because I needed a break from my corporate job that I got depressed. That depression led me to quit my job and take control of my life.
Yes, you have to work hard. Yes, some months you have to work longer than others. But a truly successful business person also understands the importance of resting their mind and body to function optimally for their business.
7. Get out of your head
If you have been following me for a while, you know I am a huge proponent of writing things down. Doing brain dumps is my favourite thing! Once it is out of my head, my system feels clear and I can now get into action to get what I want. Once that mess stays in my head for too long, it becomes a jumbled mess of instructions and my mind gets confused as to what is a priority and what is just a distraction.
Writing out my goals, my actions and my visions is my number 1 way of managing my overwhelm. We also know that a goal not written is just a dream. So, if you want to get your goals completed let start to write it down!
Now that you have these 7 strategies, let’s get to work and get exactly what we want!
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