Welcome to 2017! How exciting, a new year has arrived full of excitement and business plans. This year will be ‘our year’ and we are going to ace it as business owners! This time next year Rodders we’ll be millionaires!
httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEoIuqS6CNU
However, there’s a real chance that at this time of year you’ll also feel the dreaded sense of overwhelm. There are so many possibilities that come with the freshness of a new year, but where on earth do we start?! How can we make these amazing ideas come to life in just 52 weeks!
As a busy small business owner, with two hooligan kittens and a husband who’s quite often out of the country with the RAF, overwhelm is a constant in my business life and I hate it. It holds me back from where I want to be and makes me think that I can’t achieve my dreams because they’re just too big. How annoying! It’s time to step up to the plate and ace my 2017! I am not going to let my inner gremlins win – so step one is to overcome the dreaded overwhelm!
Here are a few handy tips I often use during my business day to help me with that feeling of overwhelm…
Break tasks down every Monday morning*
Now, I know this might sound like an obvious thing to do but you’d be surprised just how quickly you can get sucked in to answering emails and doing that odd small job, and before you know it it’s lunchtime and you haven’t achieved anything that you needed to do.
I always spend my ‘Monday morning’* planning my week. I list the top three things I need to achieve that week to reach my big goals, when they need to be done, and which things that can wait until next week. I then break those top three things into manageable chunks and pin point the three main things to do that day. Everything else can wait!
Just focus on those things you can do today and make it your aim for the day. You cannot do everything all at once, businesses take time to build. You can however do lots of small tasks confidently to work towards your goals.
*btw, just because I have written ‘Monday morning’ it doesn’t mean it needs to be morning time, or even Monday. You’re your own boss now, you can work whenever you fancy.
Try some meditation
Yep, weird hippy nonsense I hear you say?! Exactly what I thought too, until I tried it….
Turns out just stopping for a few minutes and focusing on your breathing is a fantastic way to stop feeling the pressure of a massive to-do list. The app Headspace is a good place to start. Headspace is ‘meditation made simple’ and takes only 10mins a day. There’s a handy intro video to help you with posture and positioning and you can set up daily reminders.
I always have the app installed on my phone so I can use it whenever and wherever I am feeling that little bit of pressure and I’m just not sure where to start.
Take a bath, go for a walk, or just sit in the garden with a cup of tea
Simple as it seems distracting your brain by another environment or sense can give it the chance to re-organise itself and settle down. Think of it as giving your brain a chance to re-file all the folders into the correct place. If you’re a creative type like me you find that you get your best ideas in the weirdest of places, that’s because your brain is given the chance to calm down, reorganise and wander onto something inspirational. And please don’t panic that you’re wasting precious time that you just don’t have. If your brain is fresh and rested, the remainder of the day is productive and focused.
Have a lunch break…everyday! (especially if it includes ice-cream)
Remember lunch breaks? That hour in the middle of the day where we left the office? Turns out that taking them is quite important – see above about the brain filing! And this article
Treat yourself to a business retreat
There’s nothing better than an escape to a fancy hotel for a night away and a chance to relax and refresh – so why not have one for your business and make it a working retreat? Search Lastminute.com for some lovely hotels down the road, or why not see if AirB&B has somewhere where you can escape the routines and focus on your business goals for the year?
And finally, it turns out that in the end it’s probably all going to be ok…
Have you noticed the universe recently?
The older I get and the more travelling I do, the more I realise that the world is a HUGE place, and have you checked out the UNIVERSE recently? It turns out that we are a teeny tiny speck in a massive never ending expanding vacuum of space (probably) …. sort of puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it? It’s amazing, against all the odds of science we are here, living and working on this planet.
But that doesn’t mean that because the universe is so big what you do doesn’t matter. It just means that it will all be ok! Go out there, try everything, make your mark on this tiny speck and enjoy it! – We owe the world the best version of ourselves!
“We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine”
Marianne Williamson
So, I hope that some of this has helped you bring your January back on track and will give you some tools to help avoid overwhelm within your working week.
If you’d like a FREE January printable to help you achieve your goals this month then you can download it here.
2017 is going to be amazing, let’s do this!
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