THE HANGOVER Feeling overwhelmed by all you have to do?
By, Jessica Sitomer
You want to talk about being stuck in overwhelm? Let’s look at what Phil, Stu, and okay Alan, (but let’s face it, Alan never truly understood the magnitude of the situation) were up against. What started out as a bachelor party in Vegas turned into (spoiler alert): complete memory loss for a period of an entire night only to awaken and find the groom missing, a strange baby in their hotel closet, a tiger in their bathroom that belonged to Mike Tyson, who came to their room to get it back, a naked man in the trunk of their car that gets returned after realizing they’d stolen a cop car, tooth loss, marriage to a stripper/hooker…
Phew! I’m overwhelmed just thinking about what they went through in just one weekend.
These days, everyone (especially me), has another idea for you to get work: Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, mentors, phone calls, set visits, networking events, expos, thank you notes, email campaigns, a focused follow-up calendar, Q & A screenings…
Okay, I’m getting overwhelmed again. It’s kind of like having a hangover; it’s easier to just stay in bed. Yet, it all feels very important, right? And pressing, because if you stop doing any of it, for even a moment, the whole momentum you’ve been building will suddenly come to a grinding halt.
The bad news is, there is no magic bullet to get work. The good news is, of all the things I mentioned above, they do in fact work. The way to eliminate overwhelm is to figure out what works for you. What is the best use of your time? What is the fastest path that works for you?
First you have to recognize why you’re not working (or getting the kind of work you desire) by evaluating what’s missing. It’s either going to be:
1. You don’t know enough people
2. You don’t know the right people (those who can hire you)
3. You do know enough people but don’t know them well enough for them to hire you over the people they know, like, and trust
4. The people you know who could hire you aren’t working either
5. You need to improve your skills
6. You need to improve your attitude (especially if you think you’re masking desperation, frustration, resentment, etc)
There may be other reasons, though those are rare. To eliminate the feeling of overwhelm, you have to come up with a plan that doesn’t feel time consuming and/or produce slow results. It’s important to plant seeds for the long term, but busy work that doesn’t reap short-term results leads to overwhelm.
You may know the tasks that will bring you faster results but you are avoiding them because they make you feel uncomfortable. If so, the first thing you should do is address that so you can overcome that obstacle. In the mean time–
And Action!
1. Evaluate from the list above, what’s missing in order for you to get work now.
2. Choose only 3 actions that are your fastest path to work and focus on them for the month.
3. Once you have the 3 actions determined, put them into your calendar so you can see when you will be doing your “work” and how much time you’ve allocated for it.
Overwhelm disappears once you realize YOU DO HAVE ENOUGH TIME to get your needs met.
