Counter-Intuitive Strategies to Beat Overwhelm by Melanie Benson Strick

Had to share this great post with you from Melanie Benson Strick, Small Business Coach at www.successconnections.com

Counter-Intuitive Strategies to Beat Overwhelm

Posted: 10 Mar 2008 10:27 PM CDT

Ok, I admit that once in a while I fall prey to the overwhelm beast.

Last week was definitely one of those weeks where I was pulling my hair out and wondering if I was ever going to feel sane again. But being as I teach this stuff, I have a little bit of a leg-up on what
to do.

My strategy to beat overwhelm might not necessarily be the what you think though. As we say in my Platinum Elite Mastermind program, sometimes you have to “Put on the big girl panties and make a grown up decision.”

My 3 strategies to eliminate the feeling of overwhelm quickly and get me back on track is as follows:

FIRST: Make a list of all the things that are swirling around in your mind. Prioritize the list and ask yourself, “What could I get off my plate first that is causing me the most stress?”

Rather than focus on just getting things done I really want to get things off my plate that will create more emotional and energetic space.

For instance, I made time to handle some energy drains that needed to be “plugged”:

§ A relationship with a marketing person that was causing us more overwhelm than results.

§ An efficiency issue that requires adding a new system (which might seem to add more work to my list) but will actually free up a ton of time for one of my team members.

§ Hiring an additional virtual assistant. Again, seems like it adds more work in the short term but in actuality, I created a ton more bandwidth.

SECOND, I took time off. Now I know this is really going to make some people doubt me. I cleared my schedule and read a book, squeezed in a yoga class and didn’t go any work for 2 days straight. What happened was that I ended up with more energy so that I could focus better and accomplish more faster. The truth is nothing fell through the cracks and I didn’t lose any money in the process (that’s the power of a team though.)

THIRD, I went back to my foundation of self-care. I don’t have the best habit of taking care of myself first but when I’m stressed it becomes completely obvious that my energy is off. I exercise more, meditate daily and make sure I’m eating really good. Giving myself the time to strengthen my core foundation gives me more stamina to handle what is coming at me during the day. I make better decisions, I listen to my intuition better and overall I just feel stronger.

If you find yourself getting overwhelmed, it’s worth it to slow down a tad and get yourself back on track — from the inside out!