Help! I’m Buried in Work!!
Feeling Overwhelmed? Lost? Unmotivated? Do you want to feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of every day, resulting in less stress and higher profits?
I’m Barbara Drazga (aka “The Deal Diva”), and in this article I share some of my secrets for getting “unstuck”, tackling feeling overwhelmed, and choosing what’s worth investing your time, energy, and money into.
This is a simple-to-action outline. Just follow these FOUR easy steps and you’ll Tame the Overwhelm Today!
Here’s a short exercise to run through when you feel buried.
- Reset your Frame of Mind
- Take a walk
- Inhale 6 deep breaths for 6 beats, hold each for 6 beats, exhale for 6 beats.
- Remove distractions
- Find a place where you can sit and write comfortably. Could be a coffee shop, your office (be sure to turn off devices so you’re not distracted), bedroom, library, wherever.
- Write a “Stop Doing” List
- This could include things you can outsource, or things you should just not do again.
- Ideas include laundry and housecleaning, bookkeeping, writing sales copy, coding your website, doing product research, making dinner, answering phone and emails, etc .
- Forget about the potential cost of outsourcing anything. Just write the list. It will help you get clarity on what is truly important that you should be investing your time and energy into.
- Do a “Brain Dump”
- Also called brainstorming, you are going to dump everything and anything that is in your brain onto paper. Don’t worry about organizing it, just write.
- When you find yourself slowing down in writing, get up and take a break. Make a cup of tea, pour a glass of wine, walk around the block. This will shake loose more ideas, and you’ll come back and continue writing.
4. Categorize
- Next, you’ll categorize this Brain Dump list. This means, you’ll “code” under a category.
- First, write a shorter list of categories that your Brain Dump list fall into. This can include:
- Revenue generation, calls to make, learning, to outsource, health, admin, financial, school, family, volunteer, research, house organization, website development, business growth, vacation, and more. Think of a few more categories that relate to your items.
- Now you can categorize your Brain Dump list. You can color code each (use red for financial, green for profit generation, etc.) and put a dot or check in that color to left of the item. Or you can use letters (ex-RG=Revenue Generation, O=Organization; F=Family). Now assign a category to each item on your list.
- Rewrite your Brain Dump list into smaller lists, broken out by category.
EXAMPLE
| Revenue Generation | Family | Website development |
| Write craigslist ad | Plan summer vacation | Buy URL |
| Create FBA shipment | Sign up for piano lessons | Place ad for designer |
| Place wholesale order | Schedule dental checkups | Write marketing copy |
| Create new bundle | Schedule pool party | Place SEO adverts |
| etc | etc | etc |
| etc | etc | etc |
| etc | etc | etc |
- Now choose one to three of the highest priority items on each sublist and put a star next to them. No more than 3 per list, as these will be your IMMEDIATE action items. If you mark too many, you will quickly end up in overwhelm again.
EXAMPLE
| Revenue Generation | Family | Website development |
| *Write craigslist ad | Plan summer vacation | *Buy URL |
| Create FBA shipment | *Sign up for piano | Place ad for designer |
| *Place wholesale order | Schedule dental | Write marketing copy |
| Create new bundle | Schedule pool party | Place SEO adverts |
| etc | etc | etc |
| etc | etc | etc |
- Tricks to Stay on Track
- 10-Minute Hustle – I use a small timer I got at a Dollar store. You can also set a timer on your phone.
- Set timer for just 10 minutes. Pick a high-priority task you’ve identified and commit to doing that task for just 10 minutes. Don’t worry if that task will take more than 10 minutes to complete. Your objective is to just START.
- Racing the clock engages your competitive spirit, and when that buzzer rings, you will either be done with the task, OR you will be motivated to keep going. Use that momentum and keep at it until your task is complete!
- Use Accountability – Share this document with someone (or multiple people) who you can share accountability with. You’ll share a few of your priority items daily, and share with each other how successful you were using the 10-Minute Hustle tactic to accomplish your tasks. This is not meant to shame you if you had a “fail”, but to support and encourage each other as we all learn how to Tame our Overwhelm.
- 10-Minute Hustle – I use a small timer I got at a Dollar store. You can also set a timer on your phone.
It’s so easy to give into the desire to just flop on the couch when overwhelm, well… overwhelms you 🙂
When you challenge yourself to apply just one moment of self-motivation, and stay standing, and take just ONE action… THAT skill is what give you the competitive edge!
To Your Success!
Barbara Drazga — Join me on Facebook and ask me anything about selling on Amazon! www.facebook.com/groups/dealdiva