7 Tips for Staying Calm While in Business Overwhelm

As entrepreneurs, stress and overwhelm are no strangers to us.

In fact, I would wager that there are no entrepreneurs out there who have not spent an ample amount of time in their business feeling chaos, confusion, frustration, and overload (to name a few).

Don’t get me wrong, running my own business is one of the most exciting, joyful, and rewarding things I’ve EVER done and I love it so damn much.

But also, this isht is hard!

Since business is often an experience of ebbs and flows, the periods of ease and excitement overlap and trade places with chaos and overwhelm in a beautiful, yet at times tiring, pattern.

I was just recently in one of those ebb periods feeling the overwhelm hard. But the light peeked through the mire and here I am on the other side of it moving back into a period of flow. It hasn’t been my first wave of business challenge and I know it won’t be my last. But these waves of lessons keep me on my toes and keep me looking forward to the each day in this lovely world of solopreneurship. And each time I go through those ebbs, I learn more about keeping my head up, above water, and moving forward. So that’s exactly what I’m here to share with you today!

Here are my 7 tips for keeping calm and centered during the overwhelming periods in your business.

1. Take a step back and assess.

The very first and most important thing you can do when you’re feeling that creep (or full blown) overwhelm is to stop and assess — ask yourself some important questions:

WHY am I feeling overwhelmed?

Be specific about the deadlines and situations that are making you feel this way. And specify also if there are things happening in your personal life that are affecting your feeling of overwhelm. Sometimes it’s easy for us to have a few things due at once or an unhappy client mixed with some family stressors at home, and suddenly it feels like the world is crumbling around you. As entrepreneurs, the line between our business and our personal lives can be blurry — especially if we work at home. So don’t forget to account for your “home life” as well.

Whose deadlines am I following? Whose expectations am I worried about?

Oftentimes when we work for ourselves, we create our own deadlines and our own expectations, and when we miss them or let ourselves down, we can feel like we’re failing. The truth is if we’re the ones who put these deadlines in place, we can just as likely push them back so we can create some more space in our time and mind.

The same can be said for our expectations. It’s good to hold ourselves to a high bar, but if those expectations are unrealistic, we are setting ourselves up to feel disappointed. Genuinely think about the timelines and expectations in play with your overwhelm — are you able to move the self-imposed ones?

Are things really as overwhelming as they seem?

Not to suggest you should be second guessing your feelings, but sometimes if we are burnt out and overtired or are dealing with an emotionally draining client, things can start to feel a bit more overwhelming than they actually are. So when you take that step back to assess the situation, get a real pulse on how overwhelming the situation really is.

What will REALLY happen if I miss my deadlines?

I promise you, the world won’t end. Will your business fall to utter pieces? Will you lose a client? Will you need to push out the start date of a course? Will you just feel a little crummy about it? Making sure you’re not making the situation feel worse than it actually is will help ease the anxiety that comes with that stress and give you a proper feel for what the true consequences are. Having this clarity can help you move forward with more ease.

2. Create a plan for the moment.

You’ve stepped back and assessed the situation. You now know what exactly is causing your experience of overload.

Now what?

Create a quick, short-term plan. How long will it realistically take this period to pass? When do the deadlines lighten? How long will it take you to hire the new people you need or set up the new online course, etc.?

Once you have a sense of a timeline, lay out your priorities. (And if you can’t get a good sense of the timeline because it feels like it’s endless, start by planning out one week or even three days.)

Figure out the items that are the most time sensitive or will require the most work and time commitment from you. Start there.

Communicate!

If some of the deadlines you are now facing or the situations causing you this stress are not self-imposed, are you able to talk to the necessary people to push back the deadlines or discuss the circumstances causing the issues and resolve them?

Again, be realistic and honest with yourself and the people you are working with.

Once you have your plan in place, take it one step at a time. Do not focus on the amount of work the lays in front of you. Focus only on the tasks at hand. The more you can get out of your head and out of the fear of the consequences, the lighter you will feel and the more you’ll be able to get done.

I don’t know about you but when I feel like I simply have too much on my plate, I can sometimes shut down and instead of getting just a few of the billion things done, I get absolutely nothing done and just scroll on Facebook instead. Hurray for avoidance.

But if I can look at my plan and have chunked out time and bite sized pieces to work on, I can bust through my list like nobody’s business!

3. Reach out for help.

While you are creating your plan, be sure to build in some help whenever possible. If you already have a team on your side, reach out to them and let them know that you are struggling and need some extra support.

If you don’t already have a team, perhaps it’s time to hire some help. Did you know that you hire Virtual Assistants and other support service providers on a project basis? If you are only needing help right now to get you through this period of overwhelm, hire someone for a month for a set number of hours. Or find someone who has a speciality that can step in and help to keep the needle moving forward while keeping your anxiety at bay.

If the help you need is more strategic, reach out to fellow entrepreneurs or colleagues and ask for advice, or for them to hold space for you while you bounce ideas off of them or vent it out.

Reach out to your friends, family, or partner and let them know you need a little extra support from them.

Being an entrepreneur can be incredibly isolating, but when you’re stuck in the muck, make sure you reach out for a hand because I guarantee you that you’ll find your way out of this ebb more quickly that way.

4. Remind yourself it’s temporary

This is an important one that doesn’t require much explanation.

This, too, shall pass. Again, our businesses, like our lives, are made up of ebbs and flows. This challenging period will sweep by more quickly than you realize.

Take a moment and think of the times things have been rockin’ in your business! Get those feelings and thoughts floating around so you can get your head in a better space and remember that it was likely not too long ago that your business was feeling more calm.

5. Be kind to yourself (and others).

It’s so easy when you’re in it to feel down, frustrated, and irritable. In the middle of the overwhelm, make time for yourself. Do something nice for yourself. Get a massage to relax you. Go out to a nice dinner. Get yourself the piece of tech or software you have been wanting that you know will take some of your work to the next level.

Talk nicely to yourself and be gentle. Remember that you are running this business for a reason — something you are passionate about, and most likely something that is doing good in this world. So don’t get down on yourself or be mean to yourself.

And while you’re at it, if you’re feeling irritable, don’t take out your frustrations and overwhelm on others — especially if they’re just trying to help.

6. Keep your boundaries in place.

While we’re talking about being kind to yourself, part of that is respecting your own boundaries.

Sometimes when I’m starting to feel like there is just so much I need to get done, I find myself working very late nights and weekends, and not taking any time off.

If part of my overwhelm is connected to a client, I may loosen my boundaries and drop everything to get their stuff done or get on calls with them — anything I can do to keep them happy (I have a people-pleaser tendency).

But all of that simply leads me to exhaustion. When I’m already in a state of overload, I add to the emotional drain and rawness by removing the necessary boundaries that allow me to get refreshed.

So do everything you can during this period to keep your boundaries in place. If you know you have to pull some extra long hours (it will definitely happen at some point or another), make sure you build time into your plan to make up for it, time for rest and play.

7. Plan ahead.

Finally, plan ahead for these periods of deluge.

When you and your business are in a lovely period of flow, be proactive and put some systems in place for when things get busier or harder.

Do you have SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures — don’t know what these are? Stay tuned for a future blog post about them!) in place within your business? These allow for you to easily bring in help with less oversight when things get chaotic.

Are there systems that you can have in place to automate more in your business or run it more smoothly?

Is there a platform that would help?

Those lighter times are when to step up and put everything is place to keep your business running smoothly. Doing that makes sure you have good control and support when things go back to ebb, but also, can help lessen the challenging times from coming altogether.

And finally, make sure you are scheduling regular time off for yourself. I know that can be hard and scary to do in your own business, but it is also very necessary. A lot of times, we are the source of our own overwhelm, and it comes from the fact that we are quite simply burnt out. We’ve made mistakes that put us in this challenging position or are more prone to feeling emotional or exhausted because…well…we are!

So schedule regular time off — even if it’s just a few long weekends here and there.

Your business and your mind will thank you for it!

And there you have it, my seven tips for making it through overwhelm in your business. I hope some of this was helpful for you.

As with any tips pertaining to your own business or mindset, pick and choose the ones that feel best for you with where you are at. Only you know what works best for you.

If you’re in a period of overwhelm and need some support, we are here for you! If you’re a client, contact your Client Manager and we can help pull you out of the muck (with zero shame or judgement).

Not yet a client but are ready to chat with me and see how we can help push you into your next period of flow? Sign up for a consultation and I’ll be looking forward to talking to you.

That’s it for now! Thanks so much for reading.