End Of Year Overwhelm: Ain't Nobody Got Time For That

One of the greatest lessons I learned after my business burned down was to focus only on what I can control and let go of what I can’t.

Let me tell you, there’s nothing like watching your premises crumble before your eyes to make you realise that you can’t control what happens around you, but you can always control the way you respond to it.

Luckily I realised that anger and sadness wouldn’t change the fact that most of my business was now in a pile on the street, so I decided to accept the situation for what it was and focus on finding solutions to move forward and get back on my feet again as quickly as possible.

Please Note: That doesn’t mean I didn’t cry or have a few mini meltdowns (I am human after all), but I allowed myself those moments when they came up and then got back to the task at hand once I’d let it out.

What if the end of the year wasn’t such a panic?

Anyhoo, it feels like the perfect time of year to talk about this – Christmas is in sight so most of us are in panic mode, trying to achieve the impossible and get everything done before the end of the year…even though the new year is literally the next day!

The fact is, you probably do have a lot to do – everyone seems to have these same expectations about completing everything before the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, so you have to keep up. Plus you have to get everything ready for the big day – presents, food, family logistics etc – it’s a lot.

But what if you just accepted that, rather than trying to fight it?

Instead of running around constantly thinking, “Oh my God, I’ve got so much to do, there just aren’t enough hours in the day, I don’t know how I’m going to get everything done before Christmas…”

…What if you ran around thinking, “I cannot control time, I can only use it as effectively as possible by remaining calm and focusing on each moment. Stressing about an outcome will not allow me to achieve it, I can only achieve what I want by taking consistent action in the moment.”

What the latter thought process does, is allow you to stay in your logical brain where you can work through your to-do list in a more proactive and productive manner.

The former puts your brain into fight or flight mode where you operate from your emotional brain and find it much more difficult to stay focused and practical. In this mode your thoughts and worries tend to go into overdrive, and generally get you a one-way ticket to stress and overwhelm-ville.

In both scenarios, the workload doesn’t change, but the way you respond to it does – which ultimately allows you to change the outcome too.

Worrying doesn’t get shit done

Before my gym burned down, I spent most of my days worrying about how I was going to get new clients, how I was going to retain current clients and how I was going to make enough money to buy a boat (yeah, that last one was dumb!)

Ironically, all these thoughts consumed so much of my time and energy that I had little left to actually take action towards achieving those things. So I stayed in a constant state of worry and anxiety, and eventually burned out.

I wonder now how things might have been different had I just stayed calm and simply focused on getting shit done in the moment. Of course I also cannot control the past, so wondering this is futile! What I can do however is learn from it – and then impart that on to you ??

Here’s the thing – when you peel off all the layers, this stressing about getting everything done and trying to control the uncontrollable usually comes from a place of fear; fear of not being good enough, fear of letting people down, fear of being rejected…you know, the usual stuff that makes us behave like maniacs!!!

This gets shit done...

So the key to being able to let go of the things you can’t control and stay focused in the moment, is to accept that these fears exist but refuse to let them define who you are and how you behave – you essentially want to bring them along for the ride rather than letting them take the driver’s seat.

You see, all these fears are largely related to other people’s thoughts and responses, which are factors outside of yourself, which guess what…cannot be controlled!

So by focusing on what you need to do in any given moment and reminding yourself that you have everything you need to get to the next moment – whether that’s by physically doing the thing or seeking extra resources or people to assist you – you can keep moving forward more efficiently and operate more calmly, which ultimately means you’ll get more shit done so you can then enjoy your down time with your loved ones even more.

That sounds like a bloody good outcome to me! ??

If you're keen to hear more about how managing fear can allow you to get a whole lot more done, check out our episode of the Banterpreneurs podcast: Feel the fear and do it anyway