Are You Busy Or Just Overwhelmed?

by Samantha Martin12 Mar, 2018Entrepreneur, Mic Drop Monday

Busy, busy, busy. Everyone is always busy. But are they really? Are you really busy? Or are you just overwhelmed? Or lying? Maybe just a bit unproductive with your time?

This week’s Mic Drop Monday asks if you are busy or just overwhelmed and either way, how can you get the most of your time without descending into overwhelm.

Make A List And Check It Twice

To try and avoid overwhelm and just be busy and productive it’s important to determine what you actually need to get done. So make yourself to-do lists but break it down into 3 columns. First is what has to happen. The things that can put you out of business if you don’t do them. Eat the frog first thing every day and run your day from there. Nothing else gets done until your none negotiables are done.

Your second column should be the things you’d like to get done if all your list 1’s are done. These are things that are important but won’t stop your business from operating. List 3 is the things you’d like to get done but perhaps don’t matter too much. Or can be delegated.

Focus

If you are flipping from one task to the next then chances are you aren’t getting anything finished and feel overwhelmed. Focus on one task at a time and don’t break from that task to do things like check emails. Batch tasks together so you can focus on doing lots of one specific thing. Like creating social media posts or making videos.

Track Your Time

If you find that your day is always getting away from you and you get to the end of the day without knowing what you’ve done, then try tracking what you do during the time, Keep a track of your time and how you spend it. You’ll soon realise how much time you are wasting or things like scrolling on your phone or casually browsing social media.

It will also help to use time tracking apps that you can set a timer on so you can give yourself blocks of 30 minutes to work on just one task and nothing else.

Reward Yourself

If you need some sort of incentive to have better self-discipline then set yourself small rewards for getting through your to-do lists. If say for example you know you are going to have a tough day that requires a lot of focus to clear your list 1 items, set yourself a nice reward at the end of the day. But only take the reward if you tick everything off the list. Don’t reward yourself for not hitting your goals.

Delegate

If you are genuinely busy and don’t want to get to the point of overwhelm, then look at what you can delegate or get rid of. Are there tasks you could pass to an assistant or outsource to a freelancer? Or is it tasks at home that makes you feel overwhelmed? Can you get the kids to do the hoovering maybe?

Make sure you aren’t being struck down with overwhelm and stay productive. Nobody ever achieved great things by not getting stuff done!

And when someone tells you they are busy, ask yourself if they really are or are they just overwhelmed and unproductive?

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