I wanted to address something head on today…OVERWHELM!

We have all felt overwhelmed at some point, whether that’s juggling our workload, staying on top of the household or keeping focused on our job search. We’re all experiencing so much uncertainty in our lives right now and this in itself can feel overwhelming.

When overwhelm takes hold we feel paralyzed and aren’t able to think clearly. Our heart starts to race, our muscles tense and our thoughts race like a monkey on speed! 🙈

Some days you feel like you just want to throw the computer out of the window or punch someone through the screen (hopefully not me).

Sound familiar?

I have big dreams and big goals for my life and business and as a result I am so often guilty of getting into overwhelm. The reason this happens is because I’m either trying to take on too much at once and I try and get it all done like, er now! 🙄 (guilty face) or the task I’m working on is whaaaaaay too BIG! This puts an enormous amount of pressure on ourselves to get results.

Let me share with you what I’ve now started to do and how it’s helped me come out of overwhelm and get back to a place of clarity and peace.

Let’s look at overwhelm like a mountain.

You wouldn’t be able to move a whole mountain on your own. BUT…if you broke it down into boulders, rocks, pebbles and eventually sand you’d be able to ‘chunk’ down your tasks into much more manageable tasks and move that mountain 🏔

Think of the mountain as the year, the boulders as the months, the rocks as the weeks, the pebbles as the days and the sand as the hours.

When you use this analogy to break down your goals like this it makes your workload so much more manageable. It takes away the stress and reduces the adrenaline coursing through your body. You can start to see the bigger picture and gain clarity about what you need to do and when.

I create monthly goals and have adopted the strategy of mountain to sand approach to create momentum.

At the end of each month I write out 10 – 12 goals that I want to achieve for that month (both personal and business). They are not all big mountains, some are more like little hills, but I still get to break them down into more manageable chunks.

What I then do is take each task and literally brainstorm out EVERYTHING I need to do and identify the first small, simple actionable steps and I go from there. Then I put a timeframe against each action step i.e. how long is it going to take me to complete.

Once I have this mapped out, I schedule it in my diary, because as Marie Forleo says ‘if it’s not in your schedule it’s not real’. This way I can start the month knowing exactly what mountains I want to move and what small action steps I need to take and when. It keeps me on track with my goals.

We don’t need to feel overwhelmed. With a combination of staying in the present moment, as discussed in a recent newsletter, and breaking down your goals so much more is possible for you.

Break down your tasks into small, simple actionable steps and know that not everything has to be done straight away. That was definitely one of my biggest struggles and when you let this belief go you will feel so much calmer and in control.

I would love to connect with you and you can find me at https://linkedin.com/in/suzieflynn, https://facebook.com/suzieflynncoaching or www.suzieflynn.com.