Are you overwhelmed or have information overload?
I did a survey recently of thousands of business owners. The top 3 things that were stopping progress in their business were:
- Overwhelm
- Distractions & Bright Shiny Objects
- Time. You are out of time.
I get it and I want to tell you some of the keys that I use. Am I perfect? Is everything I do right? Does everything I do work? No, but I’m not afraid to mess up or fail to own it.
~ Overwhelm & Information Overload ~
I really believe that the blessing and the curse of an entrepreneur are our ideas.
We have different ideas than other people. We have more ideas than other people and that makes us unique. However, what makes us extraordinary is when we take action on those. But we cripple ourselves from taking massive action because of ‘overwhelm.’
- Maybe part of your information overload is that you have too many ideas. You’re not sure what to do first or how to do them. You’re not alone.
- Maybe part of your information overload is that you participate in too many calls, webinars, info-experiences. Maybe that’s part of your information overload.
- Maybe you keep enrolling in classes and buying home study courses and products. What about information overload from that?
- Maybe your info-overload is based on too much ‘incoming information’
So how do we control it? We STOP IT!
Stop the incoming. Period. Be proactive. Be unavailable to all incoming. Be selective. Be PICKY!
Incoming Email ~
How many email lists are you on? (Mine, of course 🙂 Who else’s list are you on? Maybe email lists are a source of information overload for you. One of the first things I tell my personal clients is to ‘unsubscribe from all lists.’
I am on one list at a time. If you say to me: Are you following Susanne’s launch? Are you following Robert’s series? Are you on Jo Lynn’s blog? I’m going to say ‘no, no and no’. I follow one person at a time and it’s usually motive-based, very intentional.
And some of you are having tremors right now because it’s hard to unsubscribe from those lists. You feel like you’re going to miss something. The key factor is NOT what you might miss – but what are you actually IMPLEMENTING from all of this e-info?
Blogs ~
How many blogs are you reading a day? Are you getting sucked into the Blog Bermuda Triangle? You go to somebody’s blog and they mention somebody else. Then you go to somebody else’s blog and then you chase a link and go to somebody else’s blog. Before you know it you’ve spent 2 ½ hours on blogs and you haven’t really commented on any of them, posted your own blog for the day and what have you really learned that you’re going to apply? Have you gotten a bunch of new ideas? That takes us right back up to the beginning which is the blessing and the curse of more ideas. (Exhausting, right?)
Simple Solutions
You have to know your motive for everything you do. You have to filter it through your priorities and you have to have the discipline to stick with that decision. And you must exercise some discipline. (ouch)
Carrie!! One list? One blog? Really?? Let’s face it, extreme results require extreme measures.
If you are wondering why your business is not growing or thriving the way you want it too and you wonder why you have chaos in your brain, it’s because you are ‘subscribing and inviting’ chaos into your brain.
In very basic terms… If the wheelbarrow is too heavy to move forward, unload some of the junk that’s in it!!
You likely don’t need more information. You probably just need guidance and accountability for implementation! My personal coaching clients that I’m working with have STOPPED focusing on incoming information and started laser-focusing on implementation. We’re taking massive action this summer! What about you?
What do you feel like contributes to YOUR sense of overwhelm and how do you move past it?
Comment below and then stay tuned for Obstacle #2 in this series: The Law of Distraction