As female entrepreneurs we have a lot on our plate! Not only are we running businesses and trying to bring home the bacon, but if you’re on your own you’ve got an entire household to run and even if you live with someone, research shows that women do 60% more housework.
That’s a lot of plates that you’re juggling, so no wonder you might feel a little overwhelmed with all the to dos at times!
In our group coaching call this week with the Indie Freedom Seekers the number 1 topic was overwhelm. Now either there is something in the stars that is burning us all out, or it’s an issue we really need to start looking at!
So here are my top 3 tips to trying to stay on top of the overwhelm!
Number 1 – you can do it tomorrow (or the next day!)
Do you feel you need to answer that email straight away. Get back to that Instagram quote. Reply to the voicemail. Pick up that parcel from the post office.
You know what? You can do it tomorrow or even the day after that.
Because our phones are on us all the time, it’s super easy to get distracted by all the pings and pongs. In fact those very same pings releases dopamine in our brains, we are rewarded for looking straight away. And Instagram hold back those pings for one big hit, so we get uber high when they happen!
But like a drug addiction it can make us a slave to the high. Causing anxiety and overwhelm when faced with too many pings and too many to dos.
Give yourself a break and know that you don’t have to answer them straight away!
In fact if you keep disturbing what you are doing, it takes you much longer to get on with the task in hand. So turn the distractions off and have set times in the day for getting back to people.
And you know what? If you don’t reply until the next day the world won’t rise up in flames!
Number 2 – You don’t have to post on social every day!
This comes up so much! I don’t know what twat went around telling everyone that to be any good you have to post on social everyday, but I wish they would just shrivel up and die!
What you do need to do is post great quality content that answers your customers needs and tells the story of your business. And if you can do that every day, well you’re a better woman than me!
One of my favourite instagrammers is @mich.elle.imagery, she posts once a week and generally gets over 600 likes on her posts, or @andy_the_illustrator who posts once a week and gets on average between 5,000 to 11,000 likes on his posts.
It’s absolute bollocks that you have to post everyday. Stop the creating wheel and think about what you can create that you love and do less but better!
Number 3 – Focus on one thing
Your brain simply can’t do loads of things at once! It’s a fact, multi-tasking is a myth. Trying to do it all, simply gets nothing done!
Pick one thing you want to do and get it done. Don’t worry if it’s the right thing necessarily (then we’re verging into procrastination territory). Just do something!
I like to create 90-days goals and focus on doing one big task over the next 12 weeks that will move my business forward. I can then split this task into lots of small tasks that I can then tick off.
I did a Facebook live earlier this week about being stuck in student mode and this is a biggie. There is so much noise out there, so much advice, so many free workbooks and paid for courses and experts. Just focus on one or two people you love hearing from and switch all the rest off.
All that noise can stop you from moving forward. For fear of not doing the right things.
Part of running a business is trying things out and testing. Try something out, see it through, if it wasn’t the right thing, chalk it down to experience and try something else.
Just get started and focus on one thing!
And if you want help getting focused on the one thing I’m running a 7 month series of workshops alongside Nottingham University fully funded and free to you. Find out more here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/my-business-my-way-workshops-for-women-who-run-businesses-tickets-61105034804
