Feeling Overwhelmed?

Overwhelmed? Here’s a Strategy to Beat it.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've talked to a number of CEOs and leadership teams that are really feeling overwhelmed right now. It might be because your business is really struggling, or you're trying to get it back on track given all the craziness with COVID-19. It might be because you are pivoting to some new businesses to take advantage of some opportunities, and that takes a lot of effort. It might just be because you are still figuring out how to do this virtual work-from-home thing, which started out like gangbusters high productivity, but I think a lot of people are feeling pretty drained and claustrophobic by the four walls around them.

So, I wanted to give you some advice and also get some thoughts from you through your comments on this post. I read a book by Matthew Kelly a number of years ago called the Rhythm of Life, and one of the things he talks about that really stuck with me is just this: do the next right thing.

It's difficult to live your life off of a to-do list of a hundred and seventy-five different things - you feel like you've got too much coming at you all at once. I want to coach you to narrow your focus and think of one thing at a time. Stop all the multitasking, just do the next right thing. One of the ways that I work this out for myself every day is journaling. At the beginning of the day, I don't create a long list of to-dos. I may glance at my long list of to-dos, some of which are red because they haven't gotten done, just because they're not all that important right now. But what I do is figure out at the beginning of every day, what are the two, or three, or maybe four most important outcomes for that day? Not the seventy-five things I need to do, but the most important outcomes. Whether you do that first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, or when you end the day. Make sure you have that plan with a more narrow, productive focus for your day. Just focus on that next right thing.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what you do to deal with overwhelm. There are tons of opportunities right now for you and your business. Don't get overwhelmed - really make sure you're focused on doing that next right thing.