What I Do When I Feel Overwhelmed
Even as someone that has already gone 'full time', I still find myself getting overwhelmed occasionally. The world of online business just has so many possibilities for income, that it's hard to focus just one. It's hard to know where my time is best spent, so that I can make the most money for my effort.
And in this way, I can relate to newbies that just joined WA. It's really exciting to be a part of a community that can really show you how to make money online and actually cares about seeing results.
It's also really scary thinking that you might be doing something wrong, or wasting your time going down the wrong path. (https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/nathaniell/blog/what-i-ve-learned-tip-3 )
- What should I do first?
- Where should I spend most of my time?
- Am I doing this right?
When I get overwhelmed, there are a few things I do to help me get over the feeling, and to make headway in the right direction.
Tip #1: Make a Plan You Can Stick With
Be honest with yourself about what you can accomplish every day. Yes, you should be doing a little bit every day, even if it's just 15 minutes before you go to bed. Make a plan, write it down, and commit.
You are lucky that right now, Wealthy Affiliate has give you the plan that you need to stick with. If you haven't completed your training yet, then just move through the lessons, step by step.
If you did finish, here's how to continue: https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/nathaniell/blog/wh...
Tip #2: Temporarily Forget Long Term Goals
This may seem counter intuitive, and it's just the way I deal with it. Working day after day and NOT hitting your goal of "making money" or "quitting your job" is frustrating. Make short term goals that you can reach, and give yourself some positive feedback! You can't 'force' yourself to make money because you can't force people to buy stuff.
But you can force yourself to work towards more specific things.
Set a goal of two posts per week for one month. Or set a goal of posting in twitter once a day for a week. Even just something like making your next article 1000 words instead of 500 words is something that's concrete, achievable, and will give you a shot of endorphins when you achieve it.
Tip #3: Balance Learning With Doing
I find that doing too much of one thing melts my mind. If I learn all day, I stop absorbing the information and go into zombie mode. If I do stuff all day, I end up wasting time in areas that I didn't really need to spend time on.
Find a balance between learning new techniques, and doing what you already know. If you are frustrated with your work, take a break and do some training or watch a webinar. If you are confused in the lesson, ask a question, then go do something simple like keyword research or writing a blog post while you wait for an answers.
Even something as simple as browsing other websites in your niche to see what's working for them can be productive!
Mixing up your routine can give you many outlets to be productive so you aren't just "moving" or "not".
Eventually the feeling of overwhelm will pass as you develop a routine and start to see results. Then it will come back when you try to break through new barriers! Haha.
How do you work past overwhelm?
Recent Comments
72
Great post, I can apply these to my life today and sometimes people (including myself) forget that even the experts have trouble sometimes.
I average about 750 words a post I think so my next goal in that aspect is to average 1000 :)
Good article I find it hard to balance family time, work and my websites. I know of if I had more time I would be more successful. (BTW First article link is not working) .
Very nice. Taking action NOW is the most powerful step one can take. An action plan is key. Numbers and targets are key. If something isn't working, sometimes, we're building other skills that will move us in a complete direction. Therefore, patience while developing is necessary. What some forget here and there is that success just isn't an overnight reality. It takes real know-how to build decent wealth outliving one's life.
Great Advise Nathaniell, I am learning to time-block, due to current career. I find it is hard to switch mental gears when multi-tasking. I see the big picture, I am also one of those people that opens the box and tries to put the object together before reading instructions. Hard habit to break. But fighting the insanity of doing the same things over and over again. Thank you for the post.
Very good points, Nathaniell. I still feel paralyzed sometimes when I think about all the stuff I should be doing and not knowing what to do first. I think forgetting long-term goals is a great idea for newbies because, as a newbie you really can't think that far ahead. At least, I couldn't and sometimes still can't. I just focus on putting out quality articles. I'm hoping the rest will simply fall into place.
Very good advice, Nat I have put everything on hold for quite a while now because of being overwhelmed...will try and get back at it very soon.
Hello Nathaniell,
I have a hard time imagining you being overwhelmed LOL. When I get to the point where it becomes confusing I listen to music, it calms me and helps me to focus. I can always think clearly when the distractions are forced to the back by the music.
San
Good info here, when I feel overwhelmed, I prefer to take a couple of days off to re-evaluate everything because if I don't I end up doing something I'll regret. It does pass thankfully and doesn't happen often. :)
I cannot agree with you more! I am in the middle of my 2nd month here and sometimes the big picture seems so far away that it feels hopeless. But when I stand back and look at the little things that I am doing, I can see the small successes and how far I have come in less than 2 months!
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Thanks for article, it just came at the right time. Today I feel as dog chasing my tail. So much to do:) one thing I know that sticking to plan is best option for me. Cheers:)