We’ve all been there. You left the last training class you attended or inspirational speech filled with great ideas and energy. By 10am the next morning, you were back in the “email/voice mail/project deadline rut”, and could feel the overwhelm taking over like a tidal wave. All the plans to radically change how you approach business and your role got buried again. It’s a hopeless and helpless feeling, isn’t it?

Tasks can bury the best of us, and changing our modus operandi can seem much more complex when it’s bathed in the light of reality. Getting a handle on what you can change, how you can change it and when you can change it takes determination and a bit of stubbornness. The next time you feel overwhelmed, try these steps to move from drowning, to treading water, to swimming free and clear.

1. Recognize when you’re in “overwhelm” mode. Make a fast physical change to alert your brain that overwhelm is not acceptable. Walk around the block, jump up and down ten times, put your phone on “do not disturb” for 30 minutes, clean your desk.

2. Change your focus. Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t control.

3. Assess what you can control. What is truly urgent or important? Too often we get mentally bogged down in minutiae that we simply cannot impact.

4. Identify key areas where you can be proactive, and start moving forward. Overwhelm occurs primarily when you are waiting for things to happen, versus making things happen.

5. Be selfish. That’s right, ignore your mother’s advice! If being fulfilled personally helps make you the best colleague, business partner, supervisor, parent or friend, then do what you need to do to be your best.

Overwhelm is NOT a natural state. Don’t let it block you physically and mentally from achieving your day’s, week’s, or lifetime’s destiny. And speaking of Mothers, Happy Mother’s Day!

Check out our blog for the latest ideas and tips on leadership and creativity at http://www.mikefaber.com/blog/

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Mike Faber
Phone 720-851-5208 Toll Free (outside Colorado) 877-262-2402
On the Web www.mikefaber.com