Do you feel like there's never enough time in the day to get everything done? Do you feel like the weight of your business lies directly on your shoulders? Does the thought of how much is on your plate lead you to feel overwhelmed?

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As a business owner, this feeling is far from uncommon. Most of us have gone through this in the past or are going through this on a daily basis. To-do lists, tasks, jobs, bills, managing the team, handling new leads, balancing cashflow. Everything just adds up so quickly, leading us to get overwhelmed, lost or anxious...

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It is important to understand that becoming overwhelmed is pointless, it serves no purpose. It causes stress, clogging up our minds and makes thinking even more difficult and foggy.

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When we become overwhelmed, we tend to keep to keep repeating things in our head and start stacking things on top of each other. I have to do X, I have to do Y. We think we are helping by reminding ourselves what we have to do but quite simply, we are making things much worse. This is where we making poor irrational decisions, perform inefficiently, leading to disaster and burnout.

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So how do we escape it?

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🍃 Take a Deep Breath

The first and most important step is to take a deep breath. Relax. There are a number of techniques that you can use here (Mindfulness, Tai Chi, Yoga, Deep Breathing). Use what you see best, whether that just be sitting in the van.

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Your goal is to relax and pull yourself out of the situation, slow down time.

Sometimes the problem we face ends up being nothing, we overthought, overcomplicated and in the end it was nothing. However, sometimes we realise that our problems are real, but the problem itself is never going to change regardless of how we feel but we will still have the same problem if we are stressed or bouncing with joy. Our attitude towards the situation will impact how we go about fixing them and our overall mental state.

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"You can't calm the storm... so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass."

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⏳ You've been here before

We have all been overwhelmed and stressed before, but in that moment, we think of nothing but the problems we have at hand. We forget to realise that we have had problems that felt just as momentous before and in the end, we got through them. They were little blips and we worked right through them.  

What makes this situation any different? This is just another blip on your radar.

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🔓 Humans love comfort

Humans, like you and I, love comfort. It is a universal trait for us to seek comfort. Comfort makes for an easy and simple, stress-free life.

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But this is a common trait that business owners like to break through this comfort zone and take the extra step that no one else is willing to take and this is where we grow.

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This can lead us to feel unsafe, generating anxiety and can easily lead to you becoming overwhelmed. All of these thoughts running around your head are there because you have goals you want to reach. You're passionate and pushing yourself is how you succeed.

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Becoming overwhelmed is not the problem, its how we deal with it is what matters.

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😊Write it down! Be Organised

Your organisation is key to your success. Being organised allows for a completely different and far superior way of life.

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We are only able to hold 3-4 thoughts in our heads before it starts becoming overbearing. The simple organisation method of writing down all your tasks, tracking them accordingly, keeping them updated with the progress made has the ability to change your life.

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It might sound insignificant, or sounds like "extra work" but this release of responsibility of the impossibility of having to remember absolutely everything is so powerful and you will see a dramatic turnaround in your productivity and mental health.

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👷‍ Learn to do less - The Art of Delegation

Time is a finite asset, use it efficiently in order to ensure the highest performance for yourself and your business. You can't do absolutely everything by yourself and this is a massive barrier that a lot of people struggle to work around. We say; "Ah, I can do it better", or, "I can do that so much faster". But the point is, you don't have to do it at all.

This is a massive block that we see in business owners when they are trying to scale up, they are resistant to giving other people the work because they are so used to doing everything by themselves.

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Why delegate?

1. You obtain better results
2. You see the bigger picture
3. You find freedom
4. You empower your team
5. Take your business to the next level

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💤 Give yourself a break

As much as we like to push ourselves to the edge, working late nights, early mornings, thinking we are indestructible, it only ends poorly. We are often too hard on ourselves, because, let's face it, running a business is hard. We feel the need to endlessly work to keep pushing things forward.

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It is important to give yourself a break, take time off, spend time with the kids or your loved one. We all have one life and I'm sure no one's goal is to work themself to death. So every once in a while, take a break! It will help you in more ways than you think!

• Reduces Stress
• Increase productivity
• Improved clarity
• Clear goals and passions

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This article was featured as one of our weekly newsletters, Saint Sunday. Subscribe today to join for free! 

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If you would like to discuss any issues that you are facing within your business or personal life, book in a free of charge call with your business development manager!