amy walker consulting

Want to kick overwhelm to the curb for good?

“I’m just so overwhelmed right now!”  I hear this so often from business owners and clients.  I’ve felt it.  You’ve felt it.  Let’s be honest every member of the human race has felt it!

I don’t know how it shows up for you, but for me it looks like a mental to do list that is longer than the hours in the day.  It looks wishing I had someone to delegate to, but realizing that those people also have full plates.  It looks like an inbox full of urgent needs on a day that I have zero time to do anything about it.  It looks like getting done with work, just to jump into mom mode and manage homework, projects, music lessons, dinner and get everyone out the door for scouts on time.  Oh wait… I just described a NORMAL day in my life!

Here is my BEST advice on how to live a life without overwhelm.  Understand that overwhelm is an emotion not an experience.  The situations I just described are my norm.  I run a very awesome and fast growing company.  That is a demanding role.  I also run a fantastic family of 7.  BELIEVE me that is a demanding role! I could spend every day of my life overwhelmed.  But I choose not to.  I recognize that I can feel overwhelmed in hard situations or in easy situations.  I can feel peace in hard situations or in easy situations. Once we accept this crucial fact, we can start progressing towards a life of peace! Here are some tips to help you move into your life of productivity and peace!

1. Fight the urge to drift back into the comfort zone.  “You don’t have to do so much.  You’re just under too much pressure.  You don’t have to be super woman, just scale back a bit.”  That is such deceptively bad advice!  It sound great.  It feels great.  But if you follow it, you will spend your life living below your potential.  I am NOT suggesting you over commit and over schedule yourself in activities that are not going to take you towards your long term goals.  But I AM saying, when you are working towards building your business, or something equally as important, it’s going to have moments of overwhelm.  If you stop every time you feel it, you back off, you will spend your life fighting battle number 1.  Learning to do hard things without getting lost in overwhelm is the first battle you must win in order to live a life of success!
2. Don’t work stressed. I have a policy that I do not continue to work while I am stressed.  I create 10-15 minutes to go for a walk, do some yoga stretches, journal, or go do some aromatherapy.  Working stressed is counterproductive.  You are less focused.  You get less done.  And your to do list piles up even more because you are not completing tasks. You are too busy not to slow down and refocus.  This will be some of your best spent time in your day.
3. Start and end your day in purposeful peace. Most people wake up, jump straight into their day, and start out feeling overwhelmed.  Most people end their day by mentally reviewing all of the things you didn’t get done that day.  You are literally programing your brain to feel constantly overwhelmed.  Instead, take 30 minutes at the beginning of each day to do things that bring peace to your heart and mind.  I use that time to get spiritually connected. Before you go to bed, focus your mind on the vision of what you are trying to create.  Feed your brain before you go to sleep, and let your mind chew on that all night long while you sleep!  You’ll be amazed at the change it makes in your productivity.
4. Embrace the challenge. I don’t invite challenge into my life.  I much prefer to live in peace than in struggle.  But, when challenge shows up, I also don’t run from it, hide, or blame myself or others for it showing up.  Sometimes life comes with challenge. Sometimes business comes with challenge.  Sometimes relationships come with challenge. When it comes, I simply ask myself, “What can I learn from this challenge?  How will I keep moving forward with this challenge?  And how can this challenge be used to bless me, my family or others?”  Then I “attempt” (I’m still a work in progress), to be patient with myself and others during the challenge.  I find that the faster I learn the lessons, the faster I get to move through the challenge.

I know that building a business is hard.  I ask my clients to work extremely hard.  I also do not view hard as a bad thing.  

Often time we chose our struggles.  But not always. You may be in the midst of a struggle you did not invite and cannot send away.  What you CAN do is use these suggestions to get rid of the feeling of overwhelm.  When that feeling is gone, you’ll be AMAZED at how much better you can handle those challenging situations. To get excess information executive business coach and you can also visit our blog.