She’s in Business podcast - Ep 9
So, okay. Let me share with you one piece of the recipe that will help you transform the way you handle being overwhelmed, and also show you the importance of getting more balanced into your life whilst growing your beard. The goal of today's podcast is to help you get control of your overwhelm. I'm all about helping you to get off that hamster wheel, to take action and make changes that are going to bring you long-term balance for you, for your family and for your business.
But first you need to be an action taker. And if you're not then, this might sound a little harsh, but stop wasting your precious time on this earth, listening to this podcast and go do something else with that time, because there's no point in listening to this podcast about dialling down your overwhelm.
If you don't then go and do something about it. So if you are an action taker, if you are a doer, then you're in the right place and you should definitely keep listening. Because I bet you've had moments of feeling completely scattered, maybe even exhausted. And dare I say, ready to pull the pin on your business because it all feels too hard.
And you'd rather be feeling calm in control and enjoying your business. I'm a mum. I have two boys they're five and eight years old and I've been married for almost 10 years. And I've been on my business journey since 2016. I'm now pushing 40. So you can do the math on how long I've been a business owner.
And I've tried a few different types of businesses. And since having kids. I really discovered that the challenges are very different to pre-kids. And six years ago, I opened a dance studio and it went off, it went gangbusters. It grew to 300 students, six figures, and over time I've set it up so that it runs pretty much without much involvement from me.
And I'm able to step away whenever I choose to, it's been a very conscious effort over time to shape my business that way. And it's really been a gift because there have been situations where I literally couldn't be there.
Only earlier this year I stepped away for weeks at a time to be by my dad's bedside in his final stages of life.
And I honestly, I barely thought about my business during that time. I was in the moment with him and my business continued on beautifully without me and I wasn't filled with overwhelm by the fact that I was on the other side of the country to where my business was located. And that's just amazing. I do have a fabulous team.
And we do have lots of systems and processes that keep the business really robust and strong. And because of those things, because of putting all of that stuff into place and having an amazing team, I was able to have freedom within my business at a time where it really, really mattered, but it hasn't always been that way.
A few years ago, frequently, I would lie in bed wide awake, staring at the ceiling. And my thoughts and my to-do lists were echoing around my head and my heart would start thumping faster and my chest would get really tight. And I felt like I was sinking in all the things that I needed to do for my business at that time.
Plus I would replay the day in my head. Where I'd been too busy to be in the moment with my kids. I had massive mum guilt. And at that time I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I felt like I was being pulled in a million different directions as a mom, as a business owner. I was so tired. I was beyond tired.
I was exhausted. I was in a place where I felt like I had so much to do. I really began doubting myself that I could do it can, I don't know if you've ever felt like that. And maybe that's how you feel right now. But I do know that it's very common for business owners to feel that way at some point. And if you've spent nights awake with your head buzzing, with all the things that you have to do and stressing about the lack of time or resources that you have to do it with.
The great thing is we can change that. And the first thing I would recommend is to begin to pay more attention to your level of overwhelm. So on a scale of one to five, one being never and five being most days, how often do you feel overwhelmed or stressed in your business? Now, this is going to fluctuate.
Like I said before, even the most seasoned entrepreneur will feel overwhelmed from time to time, but functioning on a level four or five being most days, that level of stress and overwhelm you're experiencing. How is that affecting you? How is that affecting your business and your family? And are you okay with that?
If you're feeling like you're ready for a change to reduce that rating to a one or a two, let's start that change process today because life is both too short and too long to be dragged down by overwhelm. And as you're listening, if you're thinking that you'd like to maybe learn more about this kind of stuff, I'm going to take the opportunity to drop a plug right in here for my ready to rise course, because it's the core of what I teach.
And my mission really is to help other mums in business go from being the overwhelmed entrepreneur, to being a thriving entrepreneur. And what I'm talking about today in this podcast is just a tiny bit piece of the puzzle that unlocks ease and flow in your business and create space, for more balance in your lifestyle.
The other pieces of the puzzle are within the course. Plus you do get loads of support from me as you work your way through the course over 12 weeks. Now, I only opened the course a few times a year and tonight at 8:00 PM, the doors will close again until next year. So if you're interested in learning more about the course, you can go to my website, Donna hand.com forward slash course, and you'll find all the information there.
So let's just jump into the first piece of the puzzle for dialling down overwhelm. And that is when you're spinning in overwhelm, you must take the time to stop, reflect and reassess. The reason why this is so important to learn and master, is because most business owners, when they're feeling overwhelmed or either become unproductive and go round around in circles, or they go into a state of procrastination and nothing gets done, which only makes the overwhelm feel bigger and bigger as you get further and further behind.
Sometimes I say people doing the same things and expecting a different result and they spiral deeper into that overwhelm. And this is kind of like getting lost on a nature walk. And instead of getting at the map and back in the day, you'd get out that compass instead of doing that, you just keep walking.
Or you give up walking completely and neither of those two things are going to help you to find your way back to civilisation and the same things apply with overwhelm. However, when you recognise that you're experiencing overwhelm stopping to reflect and assess, what's actually going on by doing that, we can move forward and move out of that overwhelm spiral.
You know, the big thing that sends people into overwhelm is a sense of urgency. You might be surprised to know that 72% of small business owners feel overwhelmed by a sense of urgency, that pressure of urgency. And if you fall into that category while you can be pretty confident that you're not alone with 72% of small business owners feeling that way.
One of the things that I teach within the ready to rise program is to stop, reflect and reassess the urgency of the task. Sometimes having too many tasks, if we don't know the order of priority or importance, it can fire up that overwhelming feeling too. So when you stop and reassess your thinking about, could it be delegated or does it need to be done at all?
Or can it be done maybe next week or the week after. We can shift perspective on the urgency of getting everything done now, and you know, you can only do so much. You're only one person. I'm sure you're all kinds of amazing, there's no doubt in my mind about that, but at the end of the day, you're human and we can't do everything.
Knock away, clone ourselves, which would be super cool. But what I'm saying here is to take the pressure off yourself to be superhuman. Instead assess the tasks in order of importance, not everything can be urgent and you can ask for help.
When you take the urgency away, the results that I've seen with my clients is they're far less reactive and more responsive, which is a much more productive mindset to have.
So let's take a second to bring this back to you. On a scale of one to 10, how often do you stop, reflect and reassess? When you feel yourself in that state of overwhelm.
If you were to look objectively at the urgency of the tasks you have to do, which of those are causing your overwhelm, can you shift your perspective?
Can you see how that would lessen your overwhelm? Or perhaps if it was super urgent and you recognise that. Would that spark you maybe into action to ask for some help from someone on your team? Or maybe you have a friend or a family member that you could ask for some help and they could lessen the load in another part of your life so that you can focus on the things that is causing you to feel overwhelmed, that urgent thing.
I really want to encourage you to do this next time. Overwhelm comes up for you, and then once you have stopped, reflected and reassessed, you need to make a plan. I love making a plan. And the reason that I love it so much is it's so important to implement. And it's so important to master making plans, because this is what's going to prevent your thoughts from becoming scrambled again, so that you can better manage your time, stop spinning your wheels and really get stuff done.
There's a reason why having a plan creates 30% chance of growing your business because a plan gives you direction and it stops you swimming around in circles. When I went from having a hundred students in my dance school to 300 students and six figures within two years, it was because I had a plan. So again, let's bring this back to you.
Are you still, with me, is all this really making sense? What if you were to plan your time? What if you were to cut wasting time on busy work and make a plan that moves your business in the direction of your vision? I want you to make the decision today right now, to make a plan for your business activities, your greatest gift sits next to your greatest plan. And with that comes flow and ease.
The other thing we're talking about here is time management. I know lots of people feel the pressure of not having enough time of juggling all the things, and there's never enough time to get everything done. And I get that because you know, I've been there too. And it's one of the things that comes up each time I opened the doors to the ready to rise course, potential clients will say to me, like, I know I made this, I just don't know how I'm going to make time to learn the course content so I can implement what I learned into my business.
And my answer is always the same. You plan for it. You plan that time into your working week. Just like you plan all the other activities into your working week that you need to get done. Your greatest gift sits next to your greatest plan and successful business owners know what they want. They plan their time and they learn how to grow their business and they develop the balance.
That's ideal for them. You can't keep doing the same things and expecting a different outcome. And as your business grows, you need to grow too. And the quickest way to do that is by learning from someone who's walked in your shoes, but is 10 steps ahead of you. They're living the life that you want, and they are willing to show you how to do it.
And if they are then happy days, grab that opportunity with both hands. Because you were born to live your best life and you are worthy of investing in the things that's going to get you the results you want. It's not about how much time you don't have. What it is really about is choice. It's about choosing to make a change or choosing to accept that where you are right now is how it's going to stay.
How do you want to feel for your future self. Do you want to feel overwhelmed or free from overwhelm? Do you want that feeling of being more in control of feeling accomplished? I want you to ask yourself, how do you want your future self to feel and make a plan that includes that. And the final part to dialling down your overwhelm is to take action.
Procrastination is the killer of productivity. And now that you have a plan, just do the first thing on your plan and then do the next thing on your plan. And if the beginning of a project is really big, if you're starting something brand new, you've never done it before. And it feels like a massive undertaking and you're feeling super nervous about it.
And you're unsure of all the steps to make it happen. Please don't let that stop you. Martin Luther king said you don't need to see the whole staircase to make the first step. So remember the longer you procrastinate, the more the overwhelm will grow because that deadline gets closer time. Won't stop for you.
It doesn't stop for anybody. So just start and then celebrate each step that you reach. And soon step after step before, you know, You'll be well and truly back in control, and you'll be feeling great about yourself and great about your business and your business will be moving forward. Like I said, at the beginning, overwhelmed will come up for you throughout your business, but you can learn how to recognise it.
You can manage it and you can overcome it. How do you prevent it? Well, I guess my answer to that is back to making that choice. You choose not to sit in overwhelm, but instead you train yourself to recognise it early. At the very beginning of this podcast, I asked if you were an action taker and a doer so much about being in business is about adopting a growth mindset.
And it's really about educating yourself on improving your mindset and your skill sets. And there's a beautiful quote from Maya Angelou. When, you know, better, you do better. You can be the ambitious business woman and the fun, warm, nurturing mom, and you can also be relaxed and chilled and energised just as you're supposed to be.
It is possible. And it really comes down to making the decision to choose your mindset, to choose, to stop, reflect, and reassess. To choose what you will dedicate your time to and where you choose to invest in yourself and your business for your future self.
So to wrap up this episode of the podcast, recognise when you're becoming overwhelmed, stop, reflect, and reassess, make that plan and take the first step on that plan and then continue to choose not to sit in overwhelm and procrastination.
I hope you have the most amazing day. And if you haven't already go and check out my ready to rise course, doors are open until 8:00 PM. Today, Tuesday, the 7th of September, I would love to welcome you into our community. Have an awesome day.
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