You Can Conquer Your Overwhelm!

Feeling like this lately?

You aren’t alone. Overwhelm seems to be a natural state for many these days. We live in an information-rich society. A lot of it is not useful or correct. It’s misleading, or just nonsense. Now we have to add to our workload by researching and sifting through the nonsense to find the truth.

The result? We procrastinate. If something looks like too much work, we put it off. We feel dread at the thought of tackling it. Then comes discouragement or disillusion. As one comedian has said, “There are just too many tabs open in my brain!”

I can relate. I’m an information junkie. I am easily distracted by new information or an interesting story. My dad’s mantra was always, “Look it up!” So I do. That leads to another story, another vignette, another interesting picture. I want to know it all! I love to read and know that when I retire, I’ll spend entire days doing just that.

But that doesn’t get the work done today!

These aren’t the only causes of Overwhelm, but they’re the ones that resonate with me. Other causes include Mongoose Management, or Chaos Management; Manager’s Myopia (shortsightedness); and the need to be a Superhero!! We know that person. They always swoop in to save the day. We let them because we’re in overwhelm and they seem to know what they’re doing…

There are other causes, but what matters are the SOLUTIONS! Here are a few I cover in my programs on this topic:

FOCUS ~ Pay attention to where you are focused and control that. If you’re like me and easily – SQUIRREL! – distracted, try setting a timer and committing to stay focused on one thing for 12 minutes. Then reset the timer and go for another 12. The words I use are, “I will read that while I’m eating dinner and not before…”
FIND SOLUTIONS ~ Too many times we focus on blame. Unless lawyers are going to get involved, is this really important? Recognizing the source of a problem is a good idea. But let it go! Instead, narrow your focus and ask, “What can I do RIGHT NOW to address this? What can I do in an hour? In a week?”
DETACH! If you’ve known me for very long you know this is a biggie. Here’s what I wrote this last New Years Day: “Remember to Detach. Step back from social media, step away from big crowds for a bit. Let go of relatives who make you crazy (love them from afar!) Forget trying to control other people. BREATHE.”
MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES ~ How long do you think you have? Really. How long do you think you’ll get away with making bad choices? Choices have consequences. You’ll never get today back. Choose Wisely. Remember this:

You are the only person who is 100% affected by 100% of the choices you make!

CREATE GOOD HABITS ~ What do you want your life to look like in a year? What habits can you create to get you there? One step at a time. One tiny exercise at a time. One walk with the dog. One change in bedtime. One elimination of another bad habit and replacement with a good one.

You got this.

Tell you what. I can schedule a live Zoom conversation with you and your team called Conquering Overwhelm and Becoming Productive. I’ve kept the price low so you can do this. Everyone who joins us will get access not only to the personalized recording, but also to a gift basket of downloads that will help you as you lower your stress and improve your life. Contact me and let’s get this new Post-Covid life going! This will be great fun, funny, and stress relieving.

See you there!

Contact me here – https://everybodyslost.com/contact-beth/

To your health!

How are you doing today with your Resolutions?

Resolutions ©2017 Beth Terry, CSP — A few Secrets to Keeping Resolutions

You started out with great energy and enthusiasm. “This is the year I’m keeping my New Years Resolutions! Quitting Smoking; Losing Weight; Spending more time with Family; Finding time to read; using Social Media the right way, Blogging more, Facebooking less…” Ahh – but today is the beginning of the 2nd week of the New Year, and here you are, smoking, eating chocolate, buried on @Imgur and @Facebook and @Instagram while those goals go un-resolutely undone.

Here are three ideas.

Create a Soundtrack for your Success. The first Secret? MUSIC baby! We are all motivated by music. Find your favorites and make a soundtrack to play when you need to get going. I have Dwight Yoakam playing right now. That revs up my cowgirl heart big time! Find yours! I’m energized and have checked off three things on my Resolutions list today, including writing this, all while dancing around the office.

One technique I’ll use for simple tasks is to put on a favorite high-energy song and tell myself I need to finish the task before the song ends. Then I’m racing against the song, and mindless or repetitive tasks get done quicker. If it’s a longer project, put on an album and finish before the album does. It’s more fun than slogging through for hours and complaining the whole time.

Don’t Overwhelm Yourself by gathering all your work into one ugly pile!

Break it up! Piles of work leering at you from every corner will dropkick you into Overwhelm in no time at all. Don’t do that to yourself. We are capable of doing things well if we break down our projects into steps and then focus only on that one step at a time. That’s how you can use that one song-one task technique above.

If you want to lose weight, don’t try to lose 30 pounds in a month. You’ll get sick and you just won’t do it. INCREMENTS! Increase exercise by 10% each day. Reduce calorie intact by 10% each day. Drink more water. Slowly shift habits: eat earlier, take a walk each night, make it work for you. Cut out one thing a week or month: white flour and white sugar are good places to start if you’re dieting. Do what works for you and congratulate yourself on your small successes. It works! Increments help you not feel deprived.

Time Yourself. The song trick works. So does a clock or timer. Competing against yourself is energizing. Buy a small noisy timer or set a timer on your phone that shows countdown. You’ll be amazed how much you can do in 20 minute chunks. Say this: “For the next 20 minutes I’ll clean off my desk.” “For the next 10 minutes I’ll organize bills.” “For the next two songs I’m filing receipts for the year.” Do it this way and stop when the timer goes off or the song ends. Now you know where you have to pick it up again tomorrow or later today. Bonus: you are uncluttering your space and clearing your mind.

Be sure and Celebrate your successes. Every small success leads to a bigger Resolution being met!

Take care of yourself, we need you!

Tag Archives: Overwhelm

Soundtrack to Success with Resolutions

How are you doing today with your Resolutions?

Here are three ideas.

Don’t Overwhelm Yourself by gathering all your work into one ugly pile!

© 2017 Beth Terry • All Rights Reserved