There are 3 main causes of overwhelm in your business and fortunately it is easy to avoid them altogether.
What creates overwhelm?
Confusion about the chaos of too many things to do or create and not knowing where to start. Chaos in your mind creates chaos in your business and life. It’s crazy how it spills over into not knowing where you left the car keys for example.
Can you relate?
It’s like these thoughts and ideas are mulling around desperately looking for order.
So, how do you get to the state of order and calm? Just thinking about it, makes you feel calm already. I know, right?
Well, let me tell you, not so long ago, I was also struggling with overwhelm and I decided to do something about it. And it is not just setting goals…I tried that too. I created a long list of goals and it did not solve the overwhelm for me, because my ideas still flooded my mind, and I still did not know where I was.
I realized I had to get back to the basics.
Create your Vision.
So, I took a step back and got back to the basics of creating my vision. Many people’s response is, “But I know what my vision is”. But unless you put it down on paper, it just stays in your head, adding to the overwhelm. Putting it down again on paper, does the following:
- It forces you to reflect on your vision to see if it is still the same
- You become aware of what you have already accomplished and what might not be relevant anymore
- You get clear on what your vision is going forward.
This is like renewing your vows to the universe confirming what it is you want to manifest.
Furthermore, clarity gives your confidence, especially knowing what the gap is between where you are now and where you want to be.
Set up a Plan
Having a vision is not enough to get rid of the overwhelm. It needs to be broken down into smaller pieces that become your goals for the year and that will move you towards the big outcome of your vision.
So typically, your goals will be about the money you want to make, the growth in clients, more offering and new projects you want to create, for example.
What is also important is to include goals for personal development, relationships, self-care and holidays.
The one thing I missed though in setting my vision and goals was to see my year and plans at a glance and so I created a calendar for the year and plotted everything on there.
This really gave me a big picture of my vision for the next year. What’s more, when I needed to change things (as you know life happens), I immediately saw what the impact would be on the other projects that I planned, as well as my financials.
Measure your Results
One thing that contributes to overwhelm is uncertainty. One certain way to avoid that in your business, is to measure your results.
Setting up your vision and goals gives you the roadmap to what you wish to manifest. But you need to make sure that the actions you are taking towards your goals, are indeed moving you forward.
Not knowing this creates a slippery slide towards failing to meet your outcomes. When you measure your results, you have data that you can use to proactively make changes and instantly course-correct to make sure you stay on track and are making progress.
What stops many people from measuring their results is that they see it as tedious and complicated. The thing is, it doesn’t have to be complicated. Decide what you need to measure to see if you are on track with your goals and set up a document or spreadsheet to capture your results weekly.
I have created a few documents with columns to track what posts and emails my clients love and give them more of that. I also track my income according to my goals. The results have been nothing short of awesome.
Measuring your results will show you what is working and what is not working and what you need to change to make it work. As you tweak your actions and you see the results, you will get inspired to do better and you will see amazing growth in your business.
Mindset
Besides organising your business, you have to organise your mind to align with your vision and goals. What is important here, is to believe in yourself and trust in the universe that your vision will be manifested.
It is crucial to focus on what is working, and to know that whatever challenges you encounter are in your best interest. When you start doubting or taking things personally, then you work against yourself and you prevent the powers of infinite intelligence to guide you towards victory.
Conclusion
Without any doubt, to avoid overwhelm in your business, is to plan your business. I have created a process whereby I plan my year to include all my ideas, projects, time-off and I test that my plan meets my financial goals. I do this in one session, and I have found that my clients love doing that. We have a saying, “Get it Done while having Fun!”
I invite you to join us for this profound experience, Own Your Year (Virtual) Planning Retreat. Check out the details here.