Feeling overwhelmed?

Feeling overwhelmed? As a coach, I often help people with work/life balance. I also know the importance of taking care of ourselves in order for us to be the best that we can be. Like many in my field, I love my job. This is because I love helping people to achieve more than they ever thought possible. I love empowering people. In fact, I am so passionate about what I do that I sometimes expect too much of myself and try to do too much! I know that others in my field often do this too.

Consider your Work/Life Balance when feeling overwhelmed

Work/life balance is something that we all need to look at from time to time. With the pace of life as it is today, it is easy to start feeling overwhelmed. I hope this blog post helps you to be aware of this and to start doing things to reduce these feelings of overwhelm if they affect you and addressing your Work/Life balance.

Being aware of overwhelm before it takes over

I have recently realised that I was planning too many things to happen around the same time. I was planning quite a few different events as well as the free taster sessions that I regularly do. This required a great deal of time and effort in planning and admin. Then there was the song that I had written with a local singer/songwriter, Ray Coates which was something different for me. I am currently writing my first training course to help others increase self-esteem. This was what the song lyrics were also designed to do. Sometimes when we feel motivated, we try to do too much at once. It is then that overwhelm can set in if we are not careful

What I did to avoid feeling overwhelmed

I looked at my plans for the next few months and realised that I was aiming to do too many different things relating to my business in too short a timescale, so I have updated my plan. This is something that I would advise my clients to do in a similar situation. Plans are good but they do not need to be set in stone. Spreading the workload out more will mean that I can better focus on each particular aspect of it at different times and avoid overwhelm.

Tips to avoid feeling overwhelmed

If you are someone who is passionate about their work, do you sometimes try to do too much? It is often the case of new business owners who try to do too much too soon. You may find that you just have too much going on in your life at the moment and you are struggling to focus on particular things. It may be that you tend to overthink things, as I used to, and it takes a while to actually get things done. Here are some tips to help you avoid overwhelm:

Planning and Prioritising to avoid feeling overwhelmed

If you feel you are doing too much revisit your plans. It is good to write things down to look at what you have to do.

Prioritise things so you get the important things done first. (You may have read the book ‘Eat that frog’ which recommends this principle, particularly in relation to the harder, more uncomfortable things that may tend to put off (procrastinate about, in other words).

Look at whether you can delay some of the things on your plan that aren’t as important.

Getting help and support to avoid feeling overwhelmed

Look if someone can help you –

if in relation to personal things you may find that a friend, a family member or even a professional may be able to provide support.

If in relation to work things, a colleague or a good manager may be able to support you if they are aware that need extra help.

If in relation to a business you are running, it could be another business owner (you may be able to swap services for example), a specialist person skilled in what it is you may struggle with, a volunteer, student or even a family member or friend who has the necessary knowledge/skills.

Remember self-care to avoid feeling overwhelmed

Remember to take that self-care, that time out to help you recharge your batteries – do what makes you feel happy and relaxed.

Eat healthily and take exercise to help boost energy and to help your overall mental and physical health.

Remember to laugh – don’t take yourself too seriously. “Laughter is a great medicine” they say.

Don’t be frightened of speaking up

Remember to ask for any help if you need it – don’t struggle alone. If you feel that you are unable to cope for much longer – don’t be afraid to share your worries. They do say that “A problem shared is a problem halved”.

Have self-belief

Remember to have self-belief – you can do this; you just have to believe it. In fact, the name of the song that I wrote the lyrics to is : ‘You Are Enough (More Than Enough)’. It is all about self-belief to help you get to where you want to go. If you struggle with self-belief, consider getting help from the world of personal development. The help could be in terms of reading books, doing an online training programme, getting a life coach or whatever suits you. Surrounding yourself with positive people can also help in this respect.

Don’t overthink things. Many of us tend to be perfectionists and are great at planning but not doing. We may never take the action due to fear of not being perfect – remember no-one is perfect.

What else you can do to help yourself

The above list is not exhaustive. As always, I am happy to learn about you. What do you find helps you avoid overwhelm? Remember, do reach out if you need help in improving your own self-belief or moving forward in your life. In fact, you may need help in both as I have found that the two are often closely related.

Finally, you may like to read this earlier blog post that I wrote on a similar subject, related to having to change your plans to avoid overwhelm. If you need more help in staying positive check out my free Facebook group ‘Taming Mind Monkeys‘.

#refocus #revisitplans #worklifebalance #planningworkload #actionplanning #empowerment #overwhelm #selfbelief