The entrepreneur’s guide to handling being overwhelmed
Ever feel like there’s so much to do and never enough time?
Who hasn’t!
Owning your own business is overwhelming, especially if you’re in the startup phase without employees, and you alone are wearing six hats. We may not be able to avoid this aspect of our businesses; however, we sure can develop tools to manage the stress triggers in a productive way that allows not only our businesses to grow, but also ourselves to develop personally, professionally and spiritually.
This interwoven six-step guide — where each step supports the others — has been created specifically to support you in meeting challenges and more deeply welcoming the energies of grace and ease into your business. At the end of this article, you can download your free ‘Ease and Grace Playbook’ to support you along the way.
Step #1 — Be the Boss
You run your business. Your business doesn’t run you.
First things first: Affirm that you are the boss. You call the shots! Sometimes it can feel like your business is it’s own entity telling you what to do. You want your business to work for you, not the other way around. So…how do you do that?
You want your business to work for you, not the other way around.
Most of this is a permission piece; it’s a way of stepping forward, a way of claiming a position of power within the structure you’re creating. Treat your business like an employee, give it tasks and let it work for you. Do not be a slave to your business. Set your own hours and honor the ground rules that you, the boss, lay out. This may come up in the simple things, like making sure you take a lunch break or the hours in which you make yourself available to the tasks at hand.
Step #2 — Create Strong Systems
How can a river flow without the banks to support it?
I cannot highlight enough how valuable implementing systems are, not when things have gotten too far out of hand but at the very start. As female entrepreneurs we are creative and fluid and moving, and having the balancing masculine structure to support us in being able to continue creating in this way is invaluable.
Each end goal has a process that precedes it; each process is made up of tasks. This is a system. Here’s how to create one:
- What are the main things you’d like to accomplish?
- Are these items likely to be repeated consistently in your business?
- What steps are needed to complete this?
- What roles/people and programs are needed to do so?
- Put steps in chronological order
- Outsource what is not your highest excitement
- Disseminate tasks accordingly
Map it out — put the system on paper. Creating templates is one of the best ways to recreate and improve upon the results in these systems that will be refined, reused, and developed as you continue to grow. When training new employees, there will be an easy do-it-yourself guide they can follow, saving everyone time and energy that can be used elsewhere.
Step #3 — Start with Necessities
Boil it down to your basics.
What is necessary to complete your business’ growth and livelihood? Whatever it is, do that first. Forward momentum can be challenging when you’re bogged down by the weight of unnecessary tasks. When you set out to complete the necessary assignments, you will receive in turn the satisfaction of a job well done, which will give you energy and time for what I like to call bonus items.
There is exactly enough time for all the important things in life.
Step #4 — Clear Focused Intention
Don’t let multitasking mishaps hold you back.
One of the thematic qualities of entrepreneurs is being a visionary and/or creative. Both those qualities create the opportunity for internal and external distractions, which often results in multitasking that can really hurt our businesses. Consider this statistic from the Harvard Business Review: Multitasking leads to as much as a 40% drop in productivity and causes a 10% drop in IQ over time.
In my world, task management is a creative act. It allows me to do things effectively; as a creative act, it is a cycle of action. Each cycle of action has a beginning and a state of completion. It begins with inspiration, often followed by research, the creation of ideas, development, sharing, revision, repeat until satisfied. We are beginning cycles of action in each moment, and bringing them into completion is an integral part of energy efficiency and managing feelings of being overwhelmed.
Finish one thing, and bring each cycle of action into a state of completion. Completion = Perfection.
Step #5 — Remove Blocks
How are you standing in the way of yourself?
We can often look at blocks or challenges as these external manifestations showing up to test us or take us off track. While that may be how it feels sometimes, our outer realities are actually showing up as a reflection of our inner landscape. When we find ourselves being met with a challenge or block, the best thing we can do is to look within and ask, “Where am I standing in the way of myself?” or “What could this event/situation be showing me about how I relate to myself, my family, my business, etc.?”
You can remove the blocks that lead to being overwhelmed and the prevention of your highest contribution being embodied. Take responsibility for why they’re showing up and adjust how you relate to yourself. What’s more, you can see the block in a different light — as a blessing, that which is showing up for one reason and one reason only: to support you in becoming into your greatest, loving self.
Step #6 — Get Your Daily Joy
When things are fun, being overwhelmed isn’t an option.
Anxiety and joy don’t seem to go together, do they? When you honor yourself by scheduling daily joy, it will support you in meeting stress triggers in a playful way where you trust in your ability to move through any and all challenges with grace. How does a mid-day ten-minute office dance party sound? Pretty fun, right!
What gives you the most joy? Identify a few accessible joys and integrate them into your day daily.
Identify a few accessible joys and integrate them into your day.
You deserve an uncomplicated life. If you want more of all the above in your life, I’ve created an awesome guide to further support you in implementing and clarifying the steps specific to your business needs.
Check out and download your free Ease and Grace Playbook.
Originally published at www.bestkeptself.com on September 22, 2015.
