Three Things to Do Right Now if You are Overwhelmed

Post-it notes splatter your desk with bright colors. Your computer never stops dinging with calendar reminders, while your phone constantly vibrates with incoming emails and messages. You wish for a cloning machine so you can be at multiple places at the same time.

You begin to feel overwhelmed. You become even more overwhelmed when you realize how overwhelmed you actually are. It snowballs and snowballs until you turn everything off and binge watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix instead because you snap and come to the harsh reality that there’s more to do than you can possibly get done.

Ahhhh, Netflix, the momentary saving grace that relieves your brain from the anxiety of being overwhelmed.

Here are three things to do right now to move forward instead of accomplishing nothing or binge watching Netflix, despite feeling overwhelmed:

Eliminate distractions.

We live in a world of distractions, and there is no way to get away from them. A fixed system fails. Something breaks. A client walks in. This happens all of us, right? Yet, there are some distractions we still have control over.

Namely, distractions that are electronic in nature, such as email and social media. I have a challenge for you. Try to not check your email 100 times a day. There’s a little red X box in the top left-hand corner of your browser. It’s not often used, but it can be a godsend if you want to detach from your email momentarily. Try checking your email only three or four times a day. Then, eventually, try checking your email only two times a day.

One thing I aspire to do, as directed by author of the awesome book “The 4 Hour Work Week,” Tim Ferris, is to work to check your email twice a day. Once at 12 o’clock, and once at 4 o’clock. It helps other people understand that you have priorities other than just checking email. If you get an email between the morning and 12 o’clock noon,  you’ll be able to reply to it once you check it at 12 o’clock, and that should be quick enough. If you are emailed between 12 noon and 4 PM, then you should be able to check your email at 4pm, and address any concerns before the end of business day.

Same goes for Social Media, don’t check your Facebook 1 million times a day. Find certain times when it is enjoyable for you to check-in, and decide when it’s the time for you to check-out.

#checkemailless

Use a BB gun, not a shotgun.

When you have many targets to take out at once, don’t feel like you have to use a shotgun. Focus instead on aiming exactly where you want to hit, and take out one target at a time with each individual BB bullet. If you didn’t know, shotgun shells are made up of many little BBs.

Your attention is not a renewable source of energy. Once you divide your attention, your attention becomes weak. Be strong and pick and choose where to focus your attention in order to accomplish the most important things first.

Think of your to do list in terms of priorities, or targets. Oftentimes, we get sidetracked by so many non-priorities, and they end up clogging up our list and we miss intended targets all together. Certain tasks are ongoing, but others are items that you can actually finish. You need to focus on finishing what you started so that you don’t get the Sorta-Syndrome!

Find items on your list that you can finish today. Focus on them, cross the finish line, and cross them off your to do list. Focus on deadlines and timelines, which will help you mark your progress. This type of an approach will help you to whittle down your list so it is less intimidating and leave you less overwhelmed. Grab your Red Rider BB gun, and get going!

#BBGun

Fortune is in the follow-up.

Things rarely happen after the first or second try. There is a reason that the third time's the charm!

Whether it’s selling somebody on your product or service, following-up to add a new person in your network, or making sure your significant other knows they are appreciated, fortune is in the follow-up.

I was an ice hockey goaltender, and my coach always told me I had to follow through with my saves. If I was going to do a butterfly, I couldn’t just do a half butterfly. I would have to fully commit and follow through. If I was going to commit to covering a certain part of the goal, I needed to fully commit and not stop till I covered the puck and heard the whistle. This advice has always stayed with me.

Once you commit, finish by following through. Play till the whistle is dead and the hockey sticks stop slapping at the puck. You must focus to finish.

Find items that you have started but not finished. Take items you finished and see if there’s a follow-up. Then do it again and again. I cannot stress enough, fortune is in the follow-up. So keep following up.

Call the people back who said “no.” Ask to meet with clients who didn’t buy. Keep pushing and you will create opportunities that are built solely on your follow through and determination.

#followup