I want to talk to you about overwhelm and how to overcome being overwhelmed. Many people I speak with are affected by overwhelm on a daily basis, but very few people realise just how simple it is to overcome it.
So what is overwhelm? Overwhelm is caused by basically having too many pieces of information floating through your mind at the same time.
Here three simple and effective strategies to overcoming overwhelm.
1. Centre Your Mind
My first tip on how to overcome being overwhelmed is to centre your mind. What I do is I sit down in a quiet place, and I simply focus on my breath.
Or you can find some other way of becoming present and centred in the now, whatever that may be for you.
Once you’ve done that, grab two pieces of paper and a pen. List all of the things that you need to do. It’ll be kind of like your ultimate “To-Do List”.
And as you list every single thing that’s going through your mind, you will already begin to feel lighter and lighter.
2. Choose Your Top 3 Items
Next step to overcoming overwhelm is to select your top three items. So, once you’re satisfied that you’ve extracted everything that’s currently floating through your head onto to this piece of paper, look down your list and ask yourself this.
"If I was to do only ONE activity from this list to the fullest of my abilities, which one would completely revolutionize my life and the results I'm currently getting?"
Go ahead and circle whichever item pops off the page. Then, ask that question two more times until you end up with three items circled on your list.
What I would normally do then is get a fresh piece of paper out, grab those three items, and write them on the new piece of paper.
As for the old piece of paper, I put that away where I can’t see it. So now, you’re only focused on those three things.
3. Find The First Step
The next course of action on how to overcome overwhelm is to find the first step. So, what you want to do now is grab one of those off the list and begin to systematically break it down until you find the first small step.
What I mean by the first small step is you’re looking for the first step in that task that is simpler and easier than anything that you’re currently doing. For example, visiting a website or reading an email for five minutes.
This is the key. Make it simpler and easier than any task you’re currently doing.
So break it down all the way to the smallest first detail, and then go ahead and take that step. Once you’ve completed the task, move onto the next small step.
Make sure that everything you do after that has a momentum-based activity to it - ensure that each step gains momentum on the last.
And voila! There goes all of your overwhelm! Follow these steps and you will find overwhelm becomes a thing of the past.
I hope this video and blog post, “How To Overcome Being Overwhelmed”, has helped you out. I’ll leave you with this quote from Henry Ford.
Nothing is particularly hard if you break it down into small pieces.
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