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Are you constantly overwhelmed and overworked in your business? Unsure what steps to take to make the biggest impact? Let me tell you exactly what you need to prioritise.

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I’m going to guess that you’re reading this because you are feeling completely overwhelmed.

You feel like you’re drowning. You're in the thick of it, it’s all-consuming.

Your to-do list is quite literally a mile long with no end in sight.

Everyone needs your attention right now, and you wish you could be in four places at once or even duplicate yourself.

Did I get that right? Yes? Okay, good.

I have been there many times. We are all with you and I think at one point or another, every entrepreneur feels the weight of a busy season - having too much on your plate and not enough time to accomplish everything.

I’m giving it to you straight and tossing you a life jacket to help you stay afloat in the midst of a busy season. You’re overwhelmed, you need to solve it and I’m here to help you do just that.

So without further ado, let’s get started.

embrace the push and pull seasons

I'm going to give you some of my top tools, tips, and strategies to help you navigate a busy season because I have been exactly where you are. I have a lot of experience with feeling overwhelmed with work. I honestly think this is a common feeling, especially as an entrepreneur who loves their job. If you are passionate about your job, you want to do more of it.

Personally, I started out as a social media manager and transitioned into coaching, and I loved it. I still do. However, I remember a point in 2019 when I hit burnout. I was overbooked with private clients, and it seemed like there was no off switch. I knew that if I wanted to become a mom, I couldn't continue like that. I was working too much, trying to do everything and be everywhere. But I couldn't switch off.

I want to make it clear that I'm not glorifying busyness or working yourself too hard without taking breaks. However, I do believe that there is a season of life and business when you have to work harder and put in more hours. There's a glorification of hustle, but I think it's necessary for growth as a business owner. There's a distinction between push seasons, where you push a bit harder, and pull seasons, where you pull back a bit and don't do as much. Push seasons are necessary for growth, but they must be handled well and followed up with pull seasons or seasons of rest and recovery. I don't think it's inherently wrong as long as you maintain balance.

So I want to provide you with some tangible takeaways to help you whether you're in the middle of a push season right now or listening in the future when it's not a push season for you.

1) always make time to rest and restore

The first thing you need to do is take breaks and prioritise rest.

I understand that you may be thinking, "Holly shut up! This isn't helpful. I have 300 tasks due today, and even if I work from sunrise to sunset, I'll barely make a dent in my to-do list." But listen to me, because this is when you need to hear about rest the most.

When you have an overwhelming task list, that is when you need to take time to recharge and reset. Otherwise, you won't be as productive, even if it feels like you're working more. You'll get more done and do it better if you make sure to take breaks and rest, especially during busy seasons.

Rest and taking breaks may look different in busy seasons but try to have at least one day off per week and get enough sleep. Although it may seem counterintuitive, taking more rest will enable you to do more work. If you don't give your brain and body a break, you will burn yourself out and do the work at the expense of your health.

I have talked about the importance of rest before, but I want to remind you again. Several psychological studies have shown that our brains can lock in on a task and become more focused if we don't switch tasks frequently. Every time you switch tasks and your brain checks email or social media, it takes about 20 minutes to refocus on the original task. Your brain can focus on a task for about an hour and a half before it starts to lose efficiency. When you think you're working for seven hours straight, you're jumping between tasks, and it's taking your brain 20 minutes to refocus on each task. Working for six hours straight without a break won't be as productive as working for an hour and a half after a few breaks. I know I can get more done in an hour and a half if I have enough rest and breaks than I used to get done in six to eight hours.

We often need to take our medicine and follow our own advice. So, take breaks and prioritise rest to get more done.

2) Automate, automate, automate

Moving on to number two, this might be my favourite – automate everything you can.

When you're in the middle of a busy season and have no systems, workflows, or automations in place, everything depends on you. Work smarter, not harder, to make busy seasons more manageable. Automate everything you possibly can.

One example is using email templates. If you're listening to this while running or cleaning, raise your hand if you come up with a genuine response to every single email inquiry. If your hand is raised, please stop. You need email templates. You can still care about someone and use an email template. An email template compiles the information you probably type with a few different words every time you respond to a client. It puts it all in one place that you can customise and tweak for each client. Have a template for every email you're constantly writing. It will save you so much time.

Another example of automation is workflows. When you're in the midst of busy season, you don't want those balls to drop. Workflow automation helps you to ensure that doesn't happen. As an example, let's take a photographer. You can create a workflow, attach it to a project, and use the same format for every client. The workflow tells you exactly what you need to do and what tasks are in your workflow.

Automating tasks helps you to remember them, versus trying to remember them randomly. It's impossible for our brains to do that.

3) block it out on your calendar

Moving on to tip number three, which is all about calendar blocking.

You need to remember that just because a day is open on your calendar it doesn't mean you're available on that day.

This is a mistake I made when I started my business in 2018, and I'm sure many of you do it too. When I got an inquiry from a client, I would book them in without considering my capacity. This led to overbooking myself and being on calls all day, three or four days a week. To avoid this, you have to block out your time strategically.

You need to block out days and times on your calendar for work other than active out-in-the-field days. As a coach, for example, you don't just spend time on calls. There's also prep work, website work, blogging, social media, and more. If you're a podcaster, you need days for writing, meetings, marketing, and graphic design. And if you're a product-based business, you need days for creating, designing, sourcing new products, expanding your team, and your affiliate program.

Prioritise days for this other work, and don't forget to prioritise rest too. Physically block out time on your calendar for rest and make it a priority. Ask yourself how you're going to rest in your weekly prep meeting.

When you get a new client or project, think about the tasks that need to be done before or after the physical thing. For example, if you're a wedding photographer, are you available the day before or after the wedding? It’s all important.

I recommend using a calendar like Google Calendar to block off time when you don't take bookings. Otherwise, you'll fill it with something that's not needle-moving.

This one really is a game-changer.

Let’s recap

So, let’s recap, bosses. I gave you three different life jackets today.

Take breaks and prioritise rest to give your body and brain the break they need.
Automate everything possible to work smarter, not harder.
Block out your calendar and remember, just because it's open doesn't mean you are available. That's your new motto.

You’ve got this, bosses!