Productivity: a simple exercise to help stop overwhelm & overthinking

Catch up on some related episodes:

Today’s talking point:

In the lead-up to Christmas, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed or stressed. There seems like there's so much to do to fulfil Christmas orders or prepare for time off. Today, I want to share some questions and a very simple exercise I do every time I start to feel like everything is just too much.

As we draw towards the end of the year, it often feels like everything in business is overwhelming. We get tired. A lot of people are ready for a break.

In this post, I want to share a simple exercise to help you flip this feeling on its head and re-shape your conversation.

Grab your journal and work through these questions…

questions to ask yourself when you feel overwhelmed

1: how do you want to feel?

This has recently been an epiphany of mine as I've been going through some challenging times. It’s a basic thing, but I think we forget that we can choose how we want to feel.

The reality is we can change how we feel. It's within our control. It seems hard in the moment. Sometimes it seems impossible. But most of the time we can always do something and we can choose a different feeling.

So what are the feelings that want to feel?

2: how am I complicit?

This question hit me right in the gut when I heard it from Tim Ferriss. Here’s the full question: How am I complicit in creating the conditions around me that I say I don't want?

It's very easy for us to look out at everything we could blame, but we can also ask ourselves how we are contributing to that situation. Not just how it's getting to us.

I think it just really reminds you that you can choose how you want to feel, you can choose some of these conditions that you've convinced yourself you are stuck in.

3: what’s the one thing I can do?

This is from a book called The One Thing. I think this is a good one for those of us who feel really overwhelmed. Or those of us who are overachievers and kind of love being overachievers, but also realise that it takes away from our actual productivity on a daily basis.

The question is: What's the one thing I can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary? I love this one because it reminds us of how much we actually do that is unnecessary or is just an extra thing we added to our plate without actually considering what it would do to our day or wellbeing.

If you could do one thing that wipes out a bunch of other things, what would it be?

4:where can I let go in my day?

One of the things that we forget when we're calendar blocking and trying to be productive is to allow space. That’s so easy to let go of, or not plan for because we have so many things we think we have to get done.

So you may not feel like it makes sense to plan for space or plan for time to just stop and pause. But this is among the most important things that you could do.

5: What do I know for sure?

I love this question because it is supposed to remind you of the difference between truth and confabulation. We're all pretty familiar with the word truth, but we can be reminded of what it actually means by knowing what the word confabulation means, which is a lie that has been told truthfully. And this is what I mean when I say we're doing some storytelling with ourselves.

We tell ourselves a story after we have a weird encounter with someone. We tell ourselves a story when something happens that wasn't supposed to go a certain way. We tell ourselves a story about the way someone talks to us, even though we're the ones deciding how they've spoken to us.

This confabulation, this storytelling, is preventing us from knowing the truth. So I think this question is great because when you say, “what do I know for sure?”, just identify the actual facts of a situation. It's so much better to put that conversation to a stop when you just identify what the truth of it was.

6: What are you doing when you feel in your element?

This is what I think triggers someone to realise they've discovered their passion. You’ll know because you feel in your element, even if you screw up a little bit or you fail. That's no big deal because the process is so exciting to you, or just doing it or immersing yourself into whatever it is makes you feel so good that the journey matters more than the result.

So ask yourself: what is that thing? What is that action? What is that activity? What are you doing when you feel in your element and how often are you doing it?

Maybe something that used to feel was very in your element no longer feels that way anymore. That's okay. What does it feel like now? And are you doing too much of what used to be your passion and isn't so much anymore? If we don't spend enough time in our element, we don't really feel like ourselves or at least not our happiest selves.

7: What would this look like if it were easy?

This is another from Tim Ferriss. We’ve asked a few different iterations of this question so far, but this is the snappiest.

For this, think about the normal things you have to do throughout your day, maybe some kind of work-related tasks or home-related tasks you have to run. Just before you do what you have to do, think about what would this look like if it were easy.

This question really makes you think about whether something is necessary. Could it be done by someone else? Or am I adding too many steps to the process?

This is where I think real creativity happens because you start to let your imagination work. That’s when I think we can go to the place we want to be and we know what success looks like for ourselves. And make that almost make you feel a little bit lighter. Even if it maybe can't be the case straight away, at least, you know that you have options.

the ‘breathe’ routine to calm your mind

I created this routine a while ago and I thought it was the perfect thing to share with you. Whenever I feel like I need to hit pause and reset, this is what I do. I hope this helps you, because it's helped me immensely when I have those moments and they don't last nearly as long as they used to.

It’s all about using what you have to combat that feeling of too much is going on in your brain and you’re tired and overwhelmed.

Body

What I mean by ‘body’ is that energy and emotion live in your body. The biggest thing is to just move and I'm not talking, getting on the bike or running a marathon. I'm talking about just shaking your body out, or going for a walk, stretching or whatever you have to do to put your body in motion so it gets out of your head and into your body and you work it out.

Reflection

This is one of my favourite things to do, it solves a lot of my problems. This is a conversation I have with a lot of my clients when we’re talking about being more productive and doing less, but it applies to everything. I just write down everything that's on my mind and everything that I’m overthinking about. You can do it in your journal or on an app – whatever works for you. I find it helps get some perspective on really what it is that you're so worried about.

Eating

When I get stressed out or I feel overwhelmed, anxious, or tired, I pretty much forget to eat. So what I used to do was just eat biscuits and chocolate and quick things that would actually end up making me feel worse and more clouded. Now, instead, I reach for fruits and other healthy foods. I drink a lot of water too, which also helps.

ask

Ask yourself a couple of questions. First: is worrying about this thing actually serving you in some way. Maybe there's a legitimate reason you're worried, but oftentimes there isn't. Is there a real threat or fear? Probably not.

Now, if there is then a legitimate concern then think about how can you tackle it. But when it's just the big bad wolf over there and you don't actually know how to do anything about it, then it becomes a bigger problem than it needs to be.

Look back at that list and ask: do I need to do this? Do I need to do this right away? And does this need to be done at all? So if the answer to any of those is no, then remove it. Don't overwhelm yourself further: try and clear out any clutter from the things you think you need to do.

Talk

Whether you're talking to a wall or your dog, I don't care. You’ve just got to talk to somebody. Because again, writing it down is really important, but it also helps to also verbally process it.

When I’m worried, I have to get it out of my mouth. So sometimes my husband and I will talk to each other and I’ll say, “I just need you to listen.” I don’t need him to solve this problem, I just need to get it out of my head. And as I talk about it, I usually will be able to realize it's not that big of a deal or that there's an easy solution to it.

hero

I have this thing I keep in my office and it's every single thing I've accomplished in two years. Sounds really bizarre, right? So one of the things on here is that I gave birth to my son. Because that’s a huge accomplishment and I know that.

I use this as a reminder whenever I'm doubting a decision, or doubting myself or I’m feeling overwhelmed. I look at this list and know I have made harder decisions. I've tackled bigger things, and I am a fully capable human being to do this because I have proof. It shows me that I have been the hero before and I will be the hero again.

exhale

It sounds pretty simple. But we have this primal instinct in our body when we get stressed and we actually need to have a release of that feeling.

So a really simple thing to do is to breathe in, tense every muscle in your body, and specifically focus on the area where you carry stress. Tense everything for 10 seconds. And then exhale.

That signals to our body that it’s okay to release the stress.

A final thought

So the next time that you are feeling overwhelmed, or you’ve had a bad day or a bad night, try this BREATHE routine. You can't be 100% yourself and make decisions that are based on your terms when you are clouded, exhausted, and constantly pushing.