Moving from Overwhelm to Action
Calling all perfectionists, ambitious people, and dreamers!
I see you. Your plate is full. Your to-do list spills on to the next page, not to mention all the things you keep in your head. You have moves you want to make and projects you want to pursue, and sometimes you don’t know where to start because the amount you feel you have to do is overwhelming.
We’re going to move through this together in five really simple steps.
1. Take five deep breaths.
You have time, I promise. Put one hand on your heart, one hand on your belly, close your eyes, and breathe in deeply though your nose. If you can, as you exhale, flutter your lips or sigh to help the tension leave your body. Allow each inhalation to be a little bit deeper than the last.
2. Pick a task.
What's on your list that will give you a sense of satisfaction to make progress on? Start there. (Multiple choices? Pick any one of them!)
3. Ask yourself: what is one small action I could take on this?
Make it so small that it would feel ridiculous NOT to do it. (E.g., Reset your password so you can access that account; text your friend for the name of the dentist she loves; use talk-to-text to create a terrible first draft of that awkward email.)
4. Do that thing.
This is a simplification of what my teacher Martha Beck calls “turtle steps,” one of my favorite tools to share with clients and use myself.
5. Get the dopamine hit and repeat as necessary.
Our brains can be wily little creatures, making up stories about how good something has to be or how much we have to get done. Often, rather than spurring us to action, that leaves us frozen.
The goal of this exercise is to step off the hamster wheel – spinning and spinning and going nowhere – and allow yourself to ground into the moment and begin to take small but meaningful steps forward.
There are so many paths to where you want to go.
Don’t get hung up on picking the “perfect” task or executing flawlessly. Just move forward, turtle step by turtle step.
That’s it, dear one. Go forth, give it a shot, and let me know how it goes.
