Feeling Overwhelmed? Keep Breathing and Read on
8 practical moves to help entrepreneurs get more done with way less stress
I have a friend who’s an entrepreneur in the early stages of starting up a company. He’s rightfully proud of the strides his company is making and totally invested in his project; however, over lunch at Expo West a few weeks back, he shared with me his recent frustrations over his efforts to scale his business and admitted to “feeling overwhelmed and a little stuck.”
All he had to do was tell me he hadn’t surfed or meditated in several weeks for me to appreciate that, yes, he was in a rut.
Even worse, he thought his staff were feeling his pain and getting edgier, too. Most likely, his staff are seriously affected by their leader’s visible signs of stress in what could, if left unaddressed, turn into a death spiral for this young company.
Small businesses and startups thrive on the energy of their leaders. Believe it or not, most leaders I know are unaware of the extent to which their team look to them for inspiration, direction, and most importantly, energy. Too often, a leader will react to feeling overwhelmed by working harder and asking others to simply do the same.
Familiar with Stephen Covey’s ideas about the need for successful leaders to refuel their emotional tanks on a regular basis, I wrote my friend a detailed email with some practical suggestions for digging himself out of his rut and regaining a positive mindset.
This is the kind of tactical information I wish somebody had told me earlier in my career:
1. Take care of yourself first! Find out what gives you energy and commit to doing it daily.
2. Drive clarity with everyone:
- Whiteboard a list of all the things on your plate, then circle those things that “only you can do” and then delegate the rest;
- Attached is a “Green Sheet” that might help drive clarity with your direct reports as you decide what to delegate;
- Watch this video about decision making.
3. Say “No!”
- Perfect article from Inc. Magazine featuring Robert Glazer and Tim Ferriss;
- A great podcast on “essentialism” for the car ride;
- Turn on your vacation responder and buy yourself some time with the dialogue outlined in the Inc. article above. Be authentic and just let people know you are heads down right now;
4. Don’t over-promise on deadlines. Ask when something is due (this usually buys you time) and set clear guidelines for communication and deliverables. Stakeholders will appreciate this (especially investors).
5. Drive rhythm with your team and stick to it:
- Weekly one-on-one meetings (don’t throw unnecessary things at your team outside of the meeting);
- Weekly team meetings to talk about weekly matters;
- Monthly team meetings to discuss 2–3 major strategic issues;
- Quarterly retreats to nail your strategy;
- Do NOT deviate from the rhythm! No hand grenades! Review Death By Meeting principles
6. Stick to the strategy and don’t swerve unless you have to:
- Check out this link with the key questions that need to be answered about your strategy;
- Ensure you focus on the leading indicators, not the lagging ones (e.g., revenue);
- Communicate your strategy every chance you get and invite people to call you on it if they feel like you are outside the boundaries of the strategy.
7. Drive accountability. First make impeccable, clear agreements, then track them with Asana, using conversations area of Asana for notes:
- First, take radical responsibility;
- Then make impeccable agreements and be candid when you or someone else is breaking those agreements;
- Another brief video with a toolset I like is Crucial Conversations;
- One to listen to in the car: I read Radical Candor and it was a game-changer.
8. Commit to having fun — separate fact from the story in your head… choose fun:
- Throw a party for your team (ice-cream, beer, bourbon, chicken & waffles, whatever floats your boat);
- Say thank you in public, picking out something special that each of your team members does or is doing and compliment them in front of their peers (this will give you energy as well as them).
I like this framework because you can implement and evaluate it piecemeal on the fly. Some toolsets involve processes; others establish ground rules for how your team behaves toward one another, while still others keep you focused on the big picture, through thick and thin. But the underlying goal of all this is to lay a foundation for better collaboration that lifts some of the burden off the CEO’s shoulders and energizes the whole team!
Hey, nobody said creating something worthwhile was easy. But you don’t have to do it alone!
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed or low energy?
Robert U. Crave, Findaway Adventures CEO
PS: All credit to my ghostwriting partner, Dave Moore, who is instrumental in getting my thoughts out in a coherent manner & into these blogs. Thanks Dave!
