Overwhelm is paralyzing. We can’t think logically or make decisions or take action.
Everyone hates overwhelm–it leaves you feeling stressed out and often paralyzed (which just makes the overwhelm worse). But once you’re stuck in it, how do you get out and get to a point where you can start taking action again?
When you don’t have time to do a brain dump or get zen with self-care or delegate to someone else, you need a quick fix that will get you out of overwhelm and into action so you can get the darn thing done.
People make to-do lists with big things on them like, remodel the house, landscape the yard, create a course, write a book and on and on it goes.
You’re setting yourself up for failure by putting these big daunting things on a to-do list. You are creating the overwhelm. Let’s face it, you are not going to remodel your house today.
Break it down. You could do some research on architects or interior designers you would consider hiring.
Your brain is going to thank you for doing that. No overwhelm. No big audacious thing going on here.
Your dream house, you becoming an author are dreams. Dreams are supposed to be big. Your goals are supposed to be small.
Think back to every big thing that’s happened in your life. Big things only happened because of the small, consistent steps that built upon each other.
It happened because of the power of small.
Small is powerful.
In our culture if it’s not grand, if it’s not big, if it’s not jaw-dropping, it’s not noteworthy.
When I look at the big things in my life like graduations, vacations, giving birth, starting a business, I clearly see how all of those things happened because of the power of small.
Usually people don’t take note of any progress until it gets to the “big”.
I invite you to tell yourself everyday, Let it be small.
It doesn’t mean you aren’t going to do big grand things. There is no way you’ll do anything big in a way that is sustainable and healthy, without small.
If you set great big goals in January and you haven’t made any progress on them, it’s probably because you didn’t allow yourself to think about the small daily steps you need to take to accomplish those goals.
Small doesn’t mean insignificant, unimportant, or less than. Small in fact is powerful. Anything you’ve accomplished has resulted from small things.
You started out as a small baby and you didn’t grow up overnight. You grew in small increments on a daily basis. That is what is natural.
But we don’t treat our goals and dreams with what is innately natural to us – small daily progress.
Allowing small, intentional, consistent steps to help you arrive where you want, keeps overwhelm, stress and burnout away.
It’s critical, and yes challenging, to keep moving even when you don’t see the results right away. Pace yourself.
“Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. You need to be patient.”
James Clear, Author atomic habits
If you want better results, then forget about focusing on the end goal. Focus on your system or steps to achieve it instead.
I know, my friend, crawling and going slow isn’t glamorous. You can’t put that on IG.
Remember, small steps are encouraged.
1 page is better than no page.
5 minutes is better than no minutes.
1 mile is better than 0 miles.
