Dealing with overwhelm
I had four days left before vacation and a million things that needed to get done before we departed. I had client deliverables to complete, follow up activities to execute on, pandemic safe vacation excursions to identify, items that needed to be packed, and on and on and on. My head was a constant swirl of thoughts and “don’t forgets” and nothing was getting done. I was overwhelmed. Plain and simple. To further lean into my feelings of overwhelm and procrastinate, I looked up overwhelm on dictionary.com and was surprised to not find a picture of me.
“Loaded, filled, or addressed with an excessive amount of anything” and “overpowered or crushed, as by superior forces” are the two definitions that stuck out to me based on my current million to-do situation. “Completely overcome in mind or feeling” might apply to many other situations, especially as I digest the current wave of COVID-19 cases and deal with the sadness of canceling events for the fall… again.
Having a lot to do is not new or in-frequent for any of us. There is always much to be done and trying to balance the demands of the office with the demands of the home when they are the same space adds another layer of emotional complexity. Throw in managing people going through the same thing in their own homes and it is easy to get to a place of overwhelm in a blink of an eye.
When you have reached the state of overwhelm hit the pause button. Continuing to go in the vicious circle never solved anything and will heighten your emotional reaction with each spin.
First, figure out what is causing the overwhelm:
Do you have too many things on your plate?
Do you lack the time or space to get the most critical activities done?
Are you stewing over a specific challenge that seems like too much to overcome or problem solve?
Are you dealing with emotions from an event or experience that have nothing to do with your activities but prevent you from focusing?
Once you know the cause, you can take steps to unload the heap and stop feeling crushed.
Too many things on your plate? Lacking time to get the most critical activities done?
Write everything down. Consolidate all your to-do lists into one so you can review everything that has been taking space in your head. Include the ongoing tasks (such as weekly payroll) on your list so you can determine what truly needs your attention today.
Categorize your to-dos or ongoing tasks. With everything out of your head and documented, review the list for what is most impactful or important to you and your business, which only you are qualified to do, which can be delegated, and which can be put off until later. Focusing on those items that are most impactful or only you can do will streamline your time to focus on the right activities.
Determine the time required for the high impact and importance activities. Identify which items will require you to have large blocks of uninterrupted time and which only need a short burst of energy. Block out time on your calendar for those that require big sections so you know you can get tasks done by the deadline.
Generate a win. With the emotions running high, pick one thing that gets you excited or will be easy to complete. Take a deep breath and start executing. Completing something and generating a sense of relief will build momentum towards the other high impact activities.
Stewing over a challenge or working through the emotions of current events or experiences?
Write it out. Free-hand, typed, or voice-recognition dictation, get it on paper (or screen). Write your stream of conscious as you walk through the challenge or impactful events or experiences. Do not focus on punctuation or formatting.
Review your thoughts. Once you have run out of thoughts, hit your time limit for the activity, or cramped your hand, review what you wrote. Read it out loud to see if you gain more clarity on how to resolve the challenge or come to terms with the emotions that have awaken.
Leverage your learnings. After reviewing what you wrote, take any light-bulb moments, and execute on them. If you came up with a great resolution to your issue, put it in motion.
Overcoming overwhelm is not easy. There are times you will need to journal or talk with someone about your experiences multiple times before you can focus on other tasks or activities. Once you have worked through your emotions and are in a stronger emotional state to be productive, you are not guaranteed you won’t return to an overwhelmed state in the future. Key to success is having access to techniques to work through your feelings of overwhelm and prevent the feelings from completely consuming you.