Have you ever felt completely overwhelmed? Do you feel you just don’t know what to do next? You’re trying to do two or even three things at the same time, you're drowning under a mound of half-done projects and tasks and you just feel like you are running around in circles. Inside you feel hopeless, stressed and anxious.
This is such a common feeling among entrepreneurs and business owners. We all have good intentions about planning and staying focused on what's important at the start of a project or at the beginning of the year, but somehow things start to slide. Before we know it, the weeks are rolling by and things are starting to get out of control and the hope of achieving those big goals we set, seems to be slipping away.
Here is a quick and very effective fix to reaching that big goal while avoiding stress and overwhelm at the same time
1.) Leave your office or home and go somewhere where you can relax without any distractions. This could be a walk in the park or a coffee shop. Take a pad and pen with you, no laptop and put your phone in your pocket or somewhere where it's not going to distract you. Take some big deep breaths, just slow down and relax for a while. Enjoy whatever you are doing and take in and notice what's going on around you, try and be as present as possible. This will help you to get out of your head and out of this stressful and unproductive vicious circle. It will help to put a stop to all the mental chatter about all the things you need to do.
2.) Now remind yourself of your big goal is. What is the big picture? What is the big goal that you set yourself at the beginning of the year?
Now write it down.
3.) Now write down all the major projects/tasks that you need to do to get you closer to that goal. 4.) Prioritise that list in order of importance, allocate the time this will take you and allocate who is going to do those tasks. Remember even if you are working alone you can still may be able to outsource. You are now ready to go back to your office and get started.
5.) Now enter this into your schedule. I recommend a week to view schedule/diary, with time slots so you can block out the time for each specific task. I'm a paper planner girl ( it helps me avoid getting distracted with notifications) however, if you prefer digital then Google calendar is great for this too. Time blocking is so liberating and I highly recommend it for a less stressful life! It stops you from multi-tasking which is so unproductive. And remember if it is not scheduled it is not real. Everything needs to be scheduled. This way you are allocating your time to a specific task which will get done. It will take all the worry away and clear your mind and let you focus on this one thing at a time and do it properly. If you still think that Multi-Tasking is a good thing, have a read of this article
8 reasons why multitasking is not a good idea. I think it could change your mind.
6.) Now, you are going to find that other things are going to come along that you need to do. Write them down and fit them around the important stuff but don't let them take priority unless they are a priority.
7.) Make sure you schedule in your relaxation time too. I recommend a happy hour every day to do that one thing that you enjoy. This helps you to clear your mind and helps you stay focused on the big picture.
I hope this is going to help you to get closer to your big goal. If you have any other tips for being productive and managing your time, I'd love to hear about them in the comments.