5 Tips to Turn Overwhelmed into Productivity

I was once talking to a business owner who had lost his focus in his business.  He would come to work day in and day out, doing the same thing day in and day out and not really get anywhere.  He confided in me that he always has this overwhelmed feeling and he felt that his business was lost in the fog and he did not where he was at and he actually forgot where he was going.

The feeling of being overwhelmed gave his life a sense of not being balance.

Does this sound like you and your business?  Don’t panic, you are not alone.   Here are a few ideas to get you back on track.

First.... Realize that it's almost impossible to achieve a work-life balance.  Your focus is always going to pull you more in one direction than the other.  You can't achieve balance but you can achieve  harmony between your work life and personal life.   Remember, you can't physically and mentally be in two places at the same time.  If you are at home don't mentally be at work and visa-versa. 

Second... Realize what is going on.  You can't fix a problem until you admit you have one.  Stop pretending that you have everything together because eventually something is going to pop.  Once you start getting that feeling of being overwhelmed try to identify the triggers.  Then you can begin to work on being in charge of your attitude instead of letting something or someone trigger that negative feeling.

Third...  Identify your overwhelming triggers.  When we get the overwhelmed feeling, it's like our mind and body's circuitry goes into overload.  If we think about it and look back we'll be able to identify specific things or events that trigger that feeling.  Once we identify what these stressors are we can begin to take control back.

Fourth...Call time out.  The overwhelmed feeling hits us when we lose our focus.  Take 15 minutes and step back, maybe listen to your favorite music, go for a walk, or close your eyes and take a power nap.  You need to take some time to quickly recharge your batteries. 

 

Fifth... Find meaning in what you do. Write a list of what's most important to you both professionally and personally.  Now determine how doing what you need to do now will help the people that are most important to you.  We find meaning in our work when we can figure out how what we do helps others.  It's easy to let down ourselves but it's a lot more difficult to know that you are letting down people that are important to you.

Stress is NOT always positive but if managed correctly, stress can be enhancing to both our performance and overall well being.