Do you ever sit down to your desk, look at your task list and feel instantly overwhelmed?
I was having a "brain stall" this morning - actually for the last two days in a row - and thought I would share with you how I break out of the brain stall and get things moving back into a positive direction again.
Overwhelm can be brought on by a number of things. Distraction, change, technical issues, confusion, or simply having too much on your plate and not even knowing where to start. It's frustrating, especially when you just want to get back into productivity mode...
My first thought is always to sit down and organize my task list, or do a brain dump. And while that usually sparks great ideas and gets me motivated, it's not actually productive. And I know me - a sense of accomplishment is what will really get me back on a roll.
So instead of rewriting a task list, or organizing all of my tasks in a pretty little software program, I take the list and figure out what I can mark off first. Why organize things I can just eliminate NOW. Right?
That sparks the sense of accomplishment, and also leaves me feeling less overwhelmed - with all those little easy tasks marked off and out of the way. From there I can prioritize the other things that need to be done, and dig in.
I start by closing out all distractions. Things that don't normally bother me can become very distracting when I'm already feeling overwhelmed.
I turn off the phone ringer, turn off my mobile, turn off Skype and any other online notifications, and even turn off the sound on my computers. I also close out all tabs and all browsers, except those I need to work on, and save the links in a file in Evernote so I can go back to them later.
Then, even if I have to take a deep breath and force myself to focus, I pick one priority task and just get it done. That alone usually breaks my "brain stall" and gets me back into productivity mode.
It's one thing if you're just tired or not feeling well. In those cases I sleep, or take a break. But when you get into a true state of overwhelm, you have to break out of it if you're going to keep your business moving forward.
I'm curious what YOU do to break out of a state of overwhelm?
Best,
About Lynn Terry
The things you mentioned. Also I find getting a little physical exercise, even a 10 minute walk in the sunshine, helps tremendously to clear the fog. Moving my body makes my brain work better!
I with you - I have to accomplish something. For me, when I get feeling overwhelmed or like I'm wasting time. I refocus on what needs to get done and DO SOMETHING.
A lot of times people will mistake movement for action. Just because you're clicking things, doesn't mean you're doing anything.
Stop checking your stats and write the next section of your ebook, craft that guest post, or finish your ecourse!
I have a bad habit of putting too huge a task on my to do list. Instead of writing, "set up WP for xyz domain" I write "xyz site". That's too general and often puts me in overwhelm mode.
So very often I have to simply and ask myself what is the next step. Working on re-training myself to write a "next step" instead of a "to do" list.
I try to have a simple list of 5 items. I start each to do item with a verb for example:
1. Write and publish a blog post.
2. Upload art photos to FB and Flickr.
3. List 50 items in Zazzle shop.
Then I completely ignore the list and check what Lynn Terry, Ed Dale etc are posting on FB because it's far more interesting than DOING my own work 😉
First, I check the list and see what I can pass off to the kids to do. 🙂 Second, Look for what I can check off without doing. (Thinking of the 80/20 rule here and how some things really don't make much of a difference anyway, so why are they on my list?) Third, what's left is mine, so take the one thing I'm dreading the most and get it done.
Whenever I find myself distracted and overwhelmed, first I check in with myself to see if I am tried, sick or really should be doing something else. If this is the case, then the "To Do" list gets scaled back to the bare essentials for the day (one or two things only) then I move away from the computer.
If it's more of the overwhelmed problem, I'll shut down distractions, set a timer to help focus and offer myself a reward for getting a task done (finish this email, then you can check Facebook. Get the post up, then we'll have a chocolate with a cuppa)
Sometimes I find myself talking to myself like I would a toddler - it seems to work. It's the toddler brain that is trying to take over!
My solution is very similar to yours Lynn. I turn off all notification sounds, close down Hootsuite and all other tabs except the ones I need open to work.
I also ask myself this question: "If I were only able to achieve one thing today, what would that be?" I find this brings me back to being in control and taking action:)
Sometimes when i feel overwhelmed by the work waiting for me or even life in general, i try to force myself into working and focusing. I know that this sounds crazy, but i like to train myself to do things that i don't want to do. I don't know who said this, but if you want to be successful and take control over your mind, you need to do something you hate everyday. By something you hate, i mean something that annoys and overwhelm you (hard work!).
Good topic. I find I am more productive if I pick one task, any task, and set a time limit to focus on just that. For example, I will set aside 30 minutes to work on an information product. During that 30 minutes, as you mentioned, I ignore email and other distractions, and I avoid thinking about anything else for that one block of time.
A lot of great suggestions here! I find I need that sense of accomplishment over something to kick me out of a funk, so I like to look for the thing I least want to do on my list and try to knock that out. Once I've overcome that obstacle, I usually find I feel energized and can move on much more effectively. Technical overwhelm is usually the biggest ugliest frog on my desk. I’m no coder so tech issues are something I always need to get help from others with and that can take time and multiple tries to fix, so if I can get past that one it helps a lot. Sometimes, though I just need to walk away and come back with a fresh perspective.
This happens to me more often than I care to admit. I generally do the same thing you do: shut off the outside world and get it done. However, I had to take it one-step further because one of the distractions was my business endeavors.
The only thing I could do to make that situation disappear was to make a complete about face. I gave up my writing for others, and now focus on 'everything ebooks'. I write them, offer them free via my web sites, review them for others, and publish them to Kindle (which I just love). There are really no deadlines and I have 100% control. This new approach has shrunk both my business and personal to do lists.
I have done this for the past 2 months and I'm happier and less stressed than I've ever been. I focus more on what's important (my personal life) and less on working in my business (which I was doing 24/7/365)! It's helped to create a balance between what's on my 'to-do' list, and what's on my 'enjoy life' list. The result is no more brain stall.
BTW: Hope you enjoyed your time away from us! We've missed hearing from you (or at least I have).
This post was a direct hit on my brain, which has remained "disempowered" since Wimbledon began & ended! One of the few times a year that I allow myself to "pork out" with friends, strawberries and cream, just yummy!!!
This is what I do:
1. Calm myself with deep meditation till I feel I can reenter the workspace. Get past feeling trapped by deep breathing, eyes closed.
2. Clear my desk/work table of clutter. I mean DEAL WITH IT, no making new piles of clutter. Whew, feel better already! Peace & quiet are essential!
3. Check out my planned to see where I left off. Beginning with Monday, I move a few things forward from last week, but these are no longer top priorities (using A, B, C). Put in any webinar,teleseminar, or meeting commitments.
4. Allow only 3 "A" priorities for the week. I am prone to anxiety attacks if I overload, so I don't.
5. A's are all content-related, i.e. product development, audios, videos, guest speakers, product reviews, etc. (Note: I'm too new to do a lot of this stuff yet, but I am making progress, especially with video!)
Yeah, overhelming is a big challange for me...
What I do is plan every day before the next day in the evening. I just write down what I have to do and that's it.
I also have a monthly action plan. I write down my goals and an action plan that I will use to achieve these monthly goals.
Matt Poc
I have a bad habit of thinking up a huge to do list then when i hit the keyboard im just too overwhelmed and dont know where to start so if i even think about trying to write some useful content i just get writers block.
I just try to clear my mind, get up and go make some tea and biscuits and hopefully come back feeling refreshed and ready to work 🙂
Analysis paralysis is what I call it. I fall into it as well, especially after I get a spate of ideas for my projects. Sometimes the projects are so large in scope I get analysis paralysis.
My way out of it is to do 2 important tasks and these tasks need not be related to the new project. 2 default tasks I can always do that add value are write blogs posts and build backlinks. These are no-brainers, are important, and get me going.
Right now I'm in the middle of a large project for my site B2Web which is taking longer than I expected. I'm launching my first free WordPress theme that I designed. I want it to be excellent, but the project took much longer than I expected. Anyway, it's almost done, but I can tell you in the early stages I spend much time paralyzed about how to go about it. Once the ball was rolling it worked itself out.
Good topic.
Sometimes I "romance" myself into working. I will make a cup of tea. Put my favorite music on. Light a candle. Grab a yummy snack. Then once I am all "nested" I feel calmer and get dig in. - Other times, when I truly need a break, walking the dog or doing a short housework task helps me recharge.
Some days are just totally overwhelming. I am not one of those that can't think of a thing to write or blog about. I get caught up in wanting to do something but finding I don't know how. This takes me on a journey to learn. All the while, the list of 1001 things is lurking in the background.
I try to stop, bookmark the info or drag it over into EverNote. (LOVE that little program!)I return and knock out a few post or do some things I know how to do and empty out the to-do list.
Back to my self-imposed classroom. I try to only check email about 4x a day -- logon, after lunch, after dinner and logoff. Facebook - well, while it is a time-suck, I use it for research too.
I do use a list of some sort. When I check or scratch off items I've completed it helps me with a sense of accomplishment.
As a blogger with no other employees, everything is left up to me to do as well as many of you. To make sure I don't drop any balls, I use a huge whiteboard in my office for the static or redundant things I am responsible for completion.
Bloggers could easily be overwhelmed with not only the online duties but then there are the offline duties. I'm an empty nester so I have the luxury/curse of blogging pretty much non-stop or should I say doing all of my tasks that are blogging related. Some days that is easily 14 hours if not 16.
I've recently started a new blog that I am compelled to breathe life into while maintaining the one that has an income.
Great topic that we should all think about and find some healthy solutions so that we can find balance. Some days that won't work but we can improve a little at a time.
Ginger
HuntsvilleBargains.com/AttentionDealShoppers.com
Haha, never thought of actually eliminating tasks from the list, but i HAVE GOT to try it out because i'm dying here with all the thing i need to get done by... yesterday.
I already got to turning off my phone, just a few more steps and i'm there.
Hi Lynn, I use the power of 48 minutes. It's a simple proceedure and works really well. It was a key factor for me in writing my first book. I put together a post and video about it at http://goals4u.us/eeMg1z
For me, it's usually in the beginning that I have problems....sometimes, not all the time, I have a hard time starting with my task but once I started, I keep going until I'm done. One thing that helps me get started is to remind myself that if I don't do the task it won't get done and I'm the only one that can do it.