Do you ever feel like you’re putting so much pressure on yourself?
With many of the things I want to do in life and in helping my clients, I’ve noticed that I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself. Only after looking at my calendar and my mile long to-do list (of my own making) do I realize that the pressure I put on myself turns into overwhelm.
The overwhelm then creates procrastination. Why is that? Because I expect too much for myself so I delay doing what I reeeealllly need to do. And, if I’m honest, it means that I’m not always using that precious resource called time in the best manner (you know, the one we can never get more of).
This gets to be tough to keep at bay but over time I’ve developed an approach to manage the overwhelm and not let it stop me from achieving my big goals.
It may surprise you what I recommend doing when that feeling of overwhelm starts creeping in on you.
One time when I was speaking with a colleague, I shared this cycle with her and she helped me to speak the process out loud and observe what I do to keep the stress of that long to-do list in check.
When there are a lot of things that I need to do, or one big thing, and I start to get that sensation of feeling overwhelmed, I know I need to stop and look at the situation.
This is the moment when I accept the reality that I’m asking too much of myself. No, I don’t cut my to-do list in half and call it day. Instead, I look for ways that I can make the to-do items smaller.
This is called breaking things down into “turtle steps”. It takes me out of overwhelm because I can still get that sense of completion by 100% finishing individual items or steps in a project. And, it allows me to actually make progress toward my bigger goals whether they’re throwing a party for 50 people, developing a new opt-in for my clients or building a new office for my coaching practice. When you start to feel overwhelmed, just think…
Turtle steps. Slow, steady and doable.
Sound like a contradiction?
By using this process it may seem like more is being added to your to-do list but it actually allows you to see a path of what needs to be done instead of a giant goal where seeing the path to completion is foggy, unclear and has a lot of unknown pitfalls.
Still feeling overwhelmed?
Tell me, what is one thing on your to-do list that you haven’t been able to complete? How can you break that one task into three smaller “turtle steps” or tasks instead of one?
Now, go to your calendar and find three open times to add those steps that seems realistic.
How did that feel? If it didn’t feel doable, tweak the steps and the time it in your calendar until it does. You may need to break it down into even smaller steps.
Once you do that, do you feel more open? Are you breathing easier about it? I’d love to know how this process works for you or if you have a method that works well for handling your overwhelm. Let me know in the comments!
With much love and gratitude,
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