The Next Step - The Solution to Feeling Overwhelmed
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by a big goal you’ve set for yourself? There’s too much to do and so much needs to happen that the goal seems impossible. It makes you feel anxious and discouraged when you think about how much is ahead of you.
Whether you’re creating a successful company, building your dream home, studying for an exam or re-building your life after a relationship breakup, this feeling of being overwhelmed can be a familiar emotion.
What are you focussing on when you feel overwhelmed? Most likely it is the entirety of the challenge ahead. In any big goal there are lots and lots of steps that need to be taken. When you think of everything that needs to be done to get to the final goal, your mind struggles to cope. It creates anxiety because it’s impossible to focus on everything at once.
But guess what? You don’t need to focus on everything at once.
All you ever really have to think about is the NEXT STEP.
Big goals need vision. You should certainly have an idea of where you are heading. You also need a plan which gives you some idea of the steps required to achieve your goals. But once you have set your goal and worked out a plan, you don’t need to worry about every single step, you just need to focus on the next one.
For instance, when some people study for an exam, they become anxious about how much information they need to read and remember. The whole textbook! It’s easy to see why the thought of reading an entire textbook can cause anxiety. It’s a lot of information. But the fact is you can’t read the textbook all at once. You can only read one sentence at a time. And you only need to focus on that next sentence.
Don’t make things harder than they are. When a goal is large, the number of steps involved is far more than anyone can focus on at one moment. Don’t waste your mental energy trying to handle it all at the same time. Plan what you need to do and then get working on the next step of the plan. As long as you are making timely progress, one step at a time, you will reach your goal.
Exactly what I needed to hear today! Good idea to slow down sometimes. Thank you Kaizan.
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Comment by Lisa — June 9, 2009 @ 12:30 am
This is such good advice. I often get overwhelmed by what I have to do each day.
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Comment by Steve — June 26, 2009 @ 8:29 am
there is a good expression to go with this. How do you eat an elephant ? In bite sized chunks. It’s why good programme/project managers are so important as they can help create and manage the owners of the smaller chunks of the plan thus ensuring you achieve the whole task.
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Comment by Mark — July 9, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
Wow! I love this post. its soooo true!
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Comment by Ray — July 15, 2009 @ 2:42 pm