Overwhelm Is the Enemy: 3 Tools for Overcoming Overwhelm

Overwhelm feels like a lack of control. Sometimes there are major emotions involved; confusion, anger, feeling less than or unworthy.

When in a state of overwhelm we can’t think straight, everything feels urgent and sometimes, hopeless – “how will I ever get all of this done?!”

As small business owners especially, we are faced with lots to do and often little help to do it. Leaving many of us operating in a state of overwhelm the majority of the time. Not fun!

Getting out of overwhelm for good takes practice; here are three tools to help you get started.

Get Clear About What is Most Important

The root of overwhelm is often a lack of clarity. When we're not clear in our priorities, it can be difficult to determine what is most worthy of our time and energy.

When we don’t have a handle on our own priorities and boundaries, we are more easily caught up in other people’s notion of what's “urgent.”

Start by establishing what is most important right now. It may be a few things or one big issue that entails many smaller tasks. It can also be helpful to call out what's not important so that you can ignore, defer, and delegate those items and opportunities.

Some ways to get clear about your priorities include reflection, goal planning, evaluating what’s going well, acknowledging constant issues, or what you're excited about etc.

Overall, what most needs your attention in order to move the needle forward toward your goals?

Reduce Decision Fatigue

Another way to decrease overwhelm is to reduce the volume of decisions we’re faced with daily. If you find yourself feeling mentally exhausted, it's likely that decision fatigue is playing a part.

Decision fatigue happens when we feel burned out from having to make too many decisions. This can include, making the same decisions over and over, being constantly interrupted with "hey, quick question...", and when we are putting energy into decisions we truly don't care about.

When seemingly simple and unimportant decisions set you off, like “what do you want for dinner?” Sound familiar?

The main way to reduce decision fatigue is to standardize and systemize what you can.

This can be things that have a clear/simple answer, as well as things that don’t have a big impact on you and the quality of your day.

For some, reducing the decisions involved with picking an outfit or what to eat for breakfast really helps. So simply creating a sort of uniform for yourself and a standard weekday breakfast can give you more confidence and streamline your mornings.

For business owners, reducing decision fatigue includes having documenting standard operating procedures and best practices for your team is a game changer. Have a resource for frequently asked questions to reduce the need to run everything by you first and you've automatically reduced interruptions.

Use A Mantra

The third way to deal with overwhelm is to have a strategy for stopping it in its tracks. When you feel the overwhelm coming on, utilizing a mantra can help to bring your focus back to what is important.

What we say to ourselves repeatedly, with emotion, becomes our reality.

For example, "I am capable of focusing on what's most important", or "I have the tools and knowledge to work through this", or even, "I don't do overwhelm! I can decide what I give my attention to."

Bonus points for pairing your mantra with an action to help shift your focus before you spiral into a negative thought pattern.  

This can be as simple as standing up, getting a glass of water, taking deep breaths and bringing yourself back into the present moment.

The purpose of the mantra is to remind yourself that you’re safe, and capable of moving past this feeling of overwhelm. Choose something that feels good to you.

In today's world, with so much information just a click away, it's natural that we all feel overwhelmed sometimes. the goal is to not have it be our default way of operating!

Keep practicing these tools for moving past overwhelm and let us know what other strategies you discover that help you!