I used to have this fight within myself. I\u2019m sure a lot of you can relate. In my mind, I want to begin every work day jumping on the phone attending to every voicemail, going through every email in my inbox, and hammering away until all the little things are dealt with. This was a habit for me for a long time.<\/p>\n
Does that kind of stuff bother me? Does it leave me feeling overwhelmed? It used to, but not anymore. Why? I focus my attention on what I need<\/em> to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n For some people, the clutter of papers and folders and memos and endless, minute tasks makes them feel claustrophobic, maybe even a bit panicky. It’s like there\u2019s just not enough time to go through it all and get anything done.<\/p>\n If this kind of thing stops you in your tracks, that just means you get stopped too easily. If you are feeling overwhelmed, it\u2019s because you feel overwhelmed; it\u2019s not because you are<\/em> overwhelmed.<\/p>\n The overwhelmed feeling comes from your mind, not your work. It\u2019s not the papers. It\u2019s not the emails. It\u2019s not the snail mail. It\u2019s not the memos. It\u2019s nothing outside of you. It\u2019s inside<\/em> of you.<\/p>\n What can<\/em> you do to reduce the clutter, both outside and inside your own head? How do you take the weight off?<\/p>\n Focus on what\u2019s in front of you right now and stop thinking about all the other stuff you have to do. \u201cI still have to get through all this and do all this. I have to clean up all of this, and I have so much to do. Oh my gosh!\u201d<\/em> I\u2019d feel overwhelmed, too, if I thought like that! While it’s normal for people to think like this, it’s important to learn how to handle one thing at a time. You have to stop worrying about what\u2019s coming next.<\/p>\n If it helps, and if time permits, take yourself through a quick guided meditation if the overwhelm is too… well, overwhelming. There\u2019s this amazing, free resource we all have access to called YouTube<\/em>! In the search bar at the top, type in something along the lines of \u2018guided meditation anxiety\u2019 and dozens will pop up. Guided meditations are particularly effective because it takes you away from your thoughts, and the visualizations of the person guiding you through the meditation helps calm anxiety.<\/p>\n Most of these meditations are anywhere from 5-30 minutes long, but if you stop worrying about answering every email immediately or making sure every single piece of paper is in its proper place, you\u2019ll find that you do have time to calm yourself in stressful moments. Have a pair of headphones handy and don\u2019t feel self-conscious about attending to your mental health.<\/strong><\/p>\n First, start with what I call your big rocks calendar<\/em>. You simply take your monthly calendar and write down your priorities. If that means working out X amount of times per week, great. If that means taking smalls steps within larger projects, fantastic. Important meetings \u2026 certainly. This is the stuff you sweat, the stuff that\u2019s most important to you, not those hundreds of tiny things we all have to do, like going through the mail or answering emails. That stuff is your small rocks schedule.<\/p>\n Take a morning block for emails and all that other crap you have to do. Then take a late afternoon block for the stuff that really matters. If you allow for mail, email and all that other stuff to dominate your day, I guarantee you\u2019re not effective or productive, and you certainly won\u2019t get rich. People who are effective block their time.<\/strong><\/p>\n Instead of watching three hours of television, take an hour or an hour and a half in the evening to answer the emails that came in during the afternoon. Make sure you\u2019re not doing emails past 10:00 p.m.<\/p>\n Don’t get stopped. Not everything has to look and be perfect for you to succeed.<\/strong> Throw all the stuff in a basket beside your desk and move on. Keep going. Do what you need to do.<\/p>\n Most importantly, regardless of the time of day, put your attention on what you\u2019re doing right this moment. Take your attention off what you still have to do that is driving you crazy and leaving you feeling overwhelmed. You become less productive, less energetically effective, and less successful. Learn to stay present with what\u2019s going on right in front of you, right now.<\/strong><\/p>\n How do you relieve your stress when you are feeling overwhelmed at work or with life, in general? Share your tips and advice with us in the comments.<\/p>\n For Your Freedom, When you’re feeling overwhelmed, it can be difficult to stay focused on the present. Follow T. Harv Eker’s stress relief tips to cope in overwhelming situations. How to Relieve Your Stress When Feeling Overwhelmed If you\u2019re anything like me, your desk looks like what you\u2019d imagine a newspaper editor\u2019s desk looks like. You can even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-popular","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nTip #1:\u00a0Focus on the present with guided meditation.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Tip #2. Block off your time.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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