With many of the lives that we lead and the schedules that we keep, it’s easy at times to get a bit overwhelmed with our lives.
Being overwhelmed is often a state where we feel like we’re lacking direction, focus, and productivity. This can lead to procrastination, starting things without finishing them, and overall often it’s a state where we feel like a ‘ping pong ball in a wind tunnel’ bouncing around.
So what is overwhelm, if we were to define it?
This is how I would define overwhelm
See if you identify with any of these sentiments:
You know the times when you walk into the kitchen
and you have no idea why you went in there?
Or you sit down at your desk to write something and nothing comes out?
When you ‘to-do’ list never gets ticked off because you keep adding things?
You have so many ideas but no idea where to put your energy?
A ton of online courses that you’ve started but never finished?
I get it, I have been all of those things at periods in my life. And lets be honest it can creep up in my life, because I’m human and a mom.
Here are the ways in which you can flip overwhelm in your life.
I want to share with you 4 tips on how to move out of being overwhelmed.
Tip 1: Make a ‘to-do list’ with ONLY 3 tasks
Yep, you heard me. Only 3 things.
Isn’t that the best?
You can take a deep breath because you don’t have to do it all right now, and lets be honest when you’re overwhelmed you write everything down, panic and then scroll on instagram for an hour.
Dump everything that you need to do down (be that on paper or asana) and then prioritise the things which need to be done today focusing on 3 things.
There’s two reasons for this, one because it forces you to get things done. Two because it helps your mind reduce the panic of ‘so many things to do’ and you get a sense of accomplishment.
Tip 2: Set small and large goals
This dove-tails with tip #1, but it’s more focused on what you want to accomplish if you have a large task or project that you want to complete. Stop digging your head in the sand and break everything down into chunks.
I am such a fan of asana, because I can type all of the steps I need to take for a project, put it into different categories and see my tasks in many different ways. And when I complete a task there’s a flying unicorn, does it get better than that?
You have to sometimes ‘reverse engineer’ where you’re headed to know what you had to do and just get on with it.
If you’re struggling with where to start, call in help from someone to verbally process that you need to do and assist you in sticking to a schedule.
Tip 3: Learn to say NO to ‘shiny new things’
People who are often overwhelmed are serial ‘program starters’ and not finishers.
I have to admit, as I write this blog I have 4 programs that I have either not started or 1/2 started — and that’s ok. I know it and I’m gonna move on through them.
If you’re someone who easily gets overwhelmed or have many things going at once, start with the easiest thing to accomplish and stop saying YES to new programs, retreats, engagements, activities until you have a better handle on what you’ve already committed to.
Tip 4: How do I want to feel?
The thing is, is that we have far more choice in our lives then we realise. One of my most favourite guiding questions of myself when I feel like my life is hectic is to ask: how do I want this to feel?
If you are feeling overwhelmed and chaotic, then refocus your thoughts on how you want to feel within the process and start to set deadlines, create boundaries, allocate out tasks and formulate goals around maintaining that feeling.
We do often become victims our many self-inflicted circumstances and need to realise that we do have control of how we feel (often) and we have control over how we show up (most of the time).
I’d love to know in the comments how you have dealt with seasons of feeling overwhelmed.
What are some of your best tips?
Mish xo
I am asked all the time: ‘Mish, where do I start? How do I start untangling my hectic life?”
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