Overcome My Challenges

Top 5 Strategies To Overcome The Feeling Of Overwhelm

December 24, 2018

Last Updated on May 4, 2024 by Nadim Alamuddin

As a new entrepreneur or blogger, we often find ourselves with so many tasks at hand and things we want to do that it suddenly becomes too much. This feeling of overwhelm is also common at work, with parents, with practically anyone. This post looks at how you can overcome the feeling of overwhelm, by practicing and repeating five key strategies.

Before you can overcome being overwhelmed, you have to recognize the symptoms associated with being overwhelmed. Symptoms such as anxiety, irritability, lack of focus, short temper, lack of energy, feeling depressed all contribute to the state of being overwhelmed.

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Table of Contents

What Brings On This Feeling Of Overwhelm?

There are lots of causes for us to be overwhelmed. Here are a few:

Email Overload: As a blogger, or entrepreneur, we usually tend to subscribe to other bloggers’ newsletters, which, on top of our regular mails, start to stack up with more and more information to read and go through. Suddenly, we wonder how we’re going to get on with our own schedules. Sound familiar?
Multitasking: No, multitasking is not a good thing! Just like the internet, we tend to jump from one thing to another, sometimes juggling a few tasks at the same time. Well, guess what? Now, none of the tasks we’re juggling will ever get done!
Having too long a to-do list: If your to-do list is not realistic, it’s not going to get done!

So, HOW Do You Overcome The Feeling Of Overwhelm?

I’ve tried many ways in the past. Some strategies have worked, while others…not so much. So, I’ve experimented until I have it down to almost a science. It works well for me and I hope it works for you, but cannot guarantee it. I’ve shared this strategy with a few colleagues, and so far, it has worked for them. This is what made me write a post about it.

Clean Your Slate – Feeling overwhelmed? Have a million things to do? EVERYTHING can wait. Wipe out your to-do list. TRUST me on this.
Take some “ME” time – When was the last time you did something for YOURSELF? Now is the time. Go on. Go out, get a massage, go shopping, go to the movies, do whatever you please and FORGET all the stuff that’s been suffocating you.
Complete Your No. 1 Priority – Now that you’re back, you should feel elated. Maybe a bit guilty but your mind is clear, you feel rejuvenated. Now, you can cross off ONE task that’s been your top priority. Do it now. Get it over. CONGRATS.
“Refresh” Your To Do List – If your to do list was one of the reasons of feeling overwhelmed, you must go through it and scratch out anything on it that’s not absolutely critical for your business / blog. [Instead of scratching them out, you may want to put them on a “Wish List”, so you get to visit them when you can work on them]. Now, prioritize the rest of your tasks, putting an estimated time for each to complete. By now, you should have a TO-DAY list – your to do list that you can do in a day.
Complete Task One – As you pick up the first task, your main objective is to focus and block out anything that’s not related to the task at hand. I would highly recommend you time yourself so you can stick with the estimated time for this task. Once you complete this task, remember that this was the second task you’ve completed today, since you’ve already done your no.1 priority. Suddenly, this sense of accomplishment will be the drive and motivation to get you through the rest of your tasks for the day.

What If I Still Have A LOT To Do?

Sure! As I mentioned before, this may not work for all, even though it has for me. When you have LOTS to do, it’s important to chunk it all down to bite size tasks that you CAN do. Don’t let anything get so big that you drown just thinking about it. You need to concentrate on the things that you CAN control rather than on things you cannot control. Once these are bite sized, they’ll be easier to handle. Now, you can overcome the feeling of overwhelm by following the key strategies described above.

Affiliate Disclosure

This blog post contains links that take you to external sites. Some of these sites are products and services that I recommend, based on my experience with them. If you decide to purchase from them, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you. Thank you in advance for your understanding. For more info, check out the Affiliate Disclosure.

Tips To Overcome The Causes Of Overwhelm

Overcome Email Overload: You can easily unsubscribe from many non-critical subscriptions. If the newsletters are bringing you value, I’d recommend having a separate email account for your subscriptions. This way, you maintain your main account for important mails from your readers, your prospects and customers.

Multitasking: The ideal scenario is to concentrate on one task at a time. Focus on it and say no to any and all disruptions. But, I get it, this is not life. You may be sitting at your desk writing away on your blog, when you hear one of your kids crying or something unanticipated happens. So, let’s be reasonable here. When possible, stop multitasking.

Having Too Long A To Do List: By prioritizing your tasks, and taking out those tasks that are just not important to your business, you should have a list of manageable daily tasks. Some days, you feel like you’re a super hero and can go through your to do list in no time. Other days, it’s like you need to drag yourself out of bed and into action. So, on the super hero days, if you complete your to do list, tackle some of your less important tasks that you may have scratched out or put on a “wish list”.

Sometimes, in business, when you have many tasks to do, it makes more sense to delegate some or outsource them. Here’s an example of a great place to do your logo designs.

Moving Forward…

I hope by now you can try out these five strategies and that you will overcome the feeling of overwhelm. Feeling overwhelmed can lead to adverse situations and moods that you just don’t want to be in. The idea is to slow down, breathe, pace yourself, chunk it all down into manageable tasks. Take some time off, feel better and tackle each task by priority. It has worked for me.

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I would love to hear from you if you have tried these strategies and if they have helped overcome your feeling of overwhelm. I would also like to hear if you have tried other strategies that have worked for you and what these were. Please leave me your comments and feedback below this post.

I have written a few related posts that you should read, as follow:

As a new blogger or entrepreneur, consider reading the following posts: