Business Success - Fear of Overwhelm

Often, entrepreneurs throttle the forward movement of their businesses because they are afraid of being overwhelmed. Overwhelm may take the form of too many hours worked, having to do too many thing that are unpleasant, unable to take off work, too many demands, etc. It is important to recognize that this is what may be keeping you back, if it's true for you. Fortunately, there are ways to overcome and work with this fear.

1. Create a crystal clear vision of the desired outcome or goal for your business. The crystal clear vision includes what, when, how, why, where, who and especially how you will feel with this desired outcome. This will keep you motivated and moving forward if it is clear and compelling. It will also consistently give you a measure of whether you are on the right track. For example, if your vision has you working no more than 20 hours a week and around your family life, and you suddenly find yourself working nights and weekends, you can clearly see you are off track.

2. Ask yourself at each step along the way, “what is my desired result?” For example, if you are meeting with someone about starting a project, before the meeting, ask yourself “what is my desired result or outcome?” You can ask that question the day before to give your subconscious mind time to mull it over and ask it again right before the meeting to remind yourself of what you truly desire to have, do or be. This works in any situation; meeting with your son’s teacher, buying a new dress, writing a book, communicating with your significant other, etc. It’s like magic!

3. Constantly and consistently measure your actual experiences with your desired result. If you have clearly stated your desire to work a certain amount, or to have a feeling of satisfaction and calm, for example, when creating your business, is that what you are getting? Is that what you feel? Feelings are an important indicator of whether you are on track. This should be done daily to have real effect.

4. It’s all about choices! With each choice you make, you are setting the stage for the next results. For example, if you are asked to do a project that you think will take six months (at your desired rate of work), and the requestor says it must be in three months, what are your choices? First, you can say yes and work really, really hard, throwing all your desired outcomes out the window to make it in three months. Second, you could say, let me think about it. Then go figure out a way to get additional help, delegate some of it, do it smarter. Then go back and negotiate payment for the extra help. Third option might be to negotiate the deadline asking for five months instead of three and then figuring out a way to still have your desired result and meet the negotiated deadline. And there are a hundred other choices you could make as well. The only trick with this is to remember, that we are looking forward and it is always a guess as to how it will play out. That’s why the other steps are so important.

5. Notice the subtle signs of fear and overwhelm. Don’t wait until you are so fearful that you can no longer move forward or so overwhelmed that you are exhausted and on the road to burnout. Make it a daily practice to ask a question in the morning and a question in the evening. The morning question is “what do I intend to happen today?” and the evening question is “did my day meet my intention, and if not, why not?”. You can do a “lessons learned” each night so that you learn from your experiences and your old programming and patterns don’t take over. This should not take more than a few minutes.

If you are struggling with overwhelm, a coach may help you to succeed easier and quicker. Click here to contact me.

All blog content is copyrighted, all rights reserved, Mary Anne Fields and Life Unfolds, 2006