What to do When You are Overwhelmed: 5 Simple Tips to Breathe Again
No doubt we live in a complex world, or should I say in a complicated world. In the Information Age, we are often drowning in paperwork, letter, memos, and reminders, and spend most of our days sorting information out. Especially if you find yourself transitioning – changing job, changing company, or even simply being promoted or starting in a new position within your company…
Any type of change, whether deliberate (or not) has the tendency to fire off our stress response – the fight, flight, freeze or fall asleep response.
When we think we have what it takes to tackle it, we might fight it first and then do what we can to get over it. When we feel we won’t be able to tackle it, we’ll choose the easy option – flee and avoid it. And when we’re not too sure what to do and feel overwhelmed and hopeless, that’s when we freeze and/or fall asleep. Suddenly, we’re stuck, like a deer caught in the headlights…
Regardless of the “defense” strategy we use, we get stressed out, and that directly impacts our thinking, decision-making, productivity, performance, mood, and results.
So, if you find yourself in an overwhelming situation having to deal with too much information or ‘stuff’, here are 5 simple tips to help you breathe and take thoughtful actions on the situation at hand.
- Pause and Breathe – Take a moment for yourself – just for yourself. Take a few deep breaths to interrupt your current pattern and pay attention to your breath. Find your natural balanced breathing rhythm back. Spending the exact same amount of time inhaling and exhaling, naturally without forcing it. This will regulate your autonomic nervous system – the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches and restore internal balance.
- Remember your Why? – The reason WHY you are doing what you’re doing. This will help you reconnect with the task at hand, sharpen your focus, and increase your motivation to take the first action step.
- Visualise what you want to achieve – How does it look like? See that picture in your mind’s eye. This will give you some much-needed clarity and direction. If you can’t see where you want to go, chances you’ll go nowhere…
- Chunk down it down – Chunk down what you need/want/have to do into manageable bite sizes and find the relationship between the different parts. This will help you see the big picture and understand how everything fits together in an orderly sequence in time and space. You may even consider drawing a mind map.
- Prioritise your first action step – This will help you get started and know what is the next step, the next step, etc… As the famous proverb says “A journey of a thousand miles always begins with the first step”. Once you’ve taken that first step, you’ve gained momentum, and you’ve just overcome the most difficult part: the initial resistance/inertia. Then, it’s about defining the next priority action step to continue your journey and take that next step…
Now, as you move forward and get things done, be sure to remember WHY you are doing this (Point #1) and WHAT outcome you want to achieve (Point #2)… It is easy to get lost again in the details, simply focusing on the immediate next step, and lose sight of the destination and purpose along the way…
In Nutshell:
1. Pause and Breathe.
2. Know your WHY.
3. SEE what you want to achieve.
4. CHUNK it down.
5. PRIORITISE your actions.
Lastly, don’t hesitate to ask for help. It’s always better to ask for help than stay stuck, feel miserable and wait indefinitely for something that may never come…
ABOUT US
Drs. Marcia & Olivier Becherel are Personal Leadership Specialists, Life & Business Strategists, Executive Coaches, and the founders of Mastery to Success.
Our mission is to help you activate your personal leadership and tap into your unique design so you can create a clear path forward and enjoy a rewarding, fulfilling, and meaningful life and career.
We help high-achieving professionals, business owners, and emerging leaders to break through to the next level of their life and career by creating a clear path forward.
With more than two decades of experience, our coaching experience and skillsets have set new standards in tuning the human mind, body, and behaviour to achieve greater success, fulfilment, and impact by mastering the science of personal leadership.
Combining our coaching experience and expertise in neuroscience, human behaviour, leadership, the mind-body connection, and business, we work as a powerful team to deliver real-life results fast for our clients.
FIND OUT MORE 👩💻
Want to know more about how we might be able to help you, please visit our websites:
✅ Step Up To The Next Level with a Clear Path Forward with Drs. Marcia & Olivier Becherel
https://MasteryToSuccess.com.au
✅ Activate Your Personal Leadership to Accelerate Your Career & Success with Dr. Olivier Becherel
✅ Break Through Mental & Emotional Roadblocks To Reclaim Your Personal Power with Dr. Marcia Becherel
CHAT WITH US 📩
Want to have a quick chat with us to get more clarity on yourself and on the way forward?
☎️ Schedule an obligation-free call at https://masterytosuccess.as.me
FOLLOW US & CONNECT WITH US
➡️ Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/drolivierbecherel/
https://www.instagram.com/drmarciabecherel/
➡️ Facebook
https://facebook.com/masterytosuccess
➡️ Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivierbecherel/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marciabecherel/
📺 SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube Channel for more tips and wisdom! 👍🏻