"3 Things to Do to Help Keep Yourself Inspired so Biz Challenges Don't Overwhelm You"
Perhaps you can remember juggling three to six projects at once. Maybe you're doing it daily. While trying to keep up with a full work schedule and family. As you probably know from experience, it can easily throw you into overwhelm.
Unfortunately, if you don't "snap out of it", as Cher used to say, you can easily wind up too agitated to get anything right, miss appointments and make mistakes. Mistakes which can be hard to recover from. What can you do to inspire yourself to get back on a positive track?
It's a fact: The more you work in overwhelm mode, the more aggravated or short tempered you're likely to become. Plus you'll become exhausted and things will probably get worse the more mistakes or problems which develop. Nothing is gained when you continue working in this fashion. And you can wind up making mistakes from which you may never recover. For example, making negative or nasty statements to the wrong person and lose business and/or their loyalty.
Whether you think you can spare it or not, put aside your projects and take an hour or two, a half day or a day, if you can. In short, get as far away from your work or office as possible. Can't go too far?
Talk your situation over with someone who'll listen and offer good suggestions.
Work at home: Go out for a walk, do some gardening, work on a hobby, call a friend and chat about anything but work, exercise, listen to your IPod.
Once you take a breather and remove yourself from current business scenarios, you're more able to return with fresh eyes. To look differently at those projects. To come up with another, or better, solution. Or work out the bugs in the current one. I've found going out to lunch works best for me. It gives me a couple of hours to relax and regroup. To return refreshed and ready to re-tackle a project.
Outsource some projects.
As simple as this may seem, many entrepreneurs believe it's necessary to do all the work themselves. Or believe they can't hand it off because only they will get it right. What can happen is, overwhelm will regularly set in. And you'll fail to successfully complete one project, much less several.
In today's Internet driven world, you have many options - even if your business is a bricks and mortar one. For instance, have no skilled employees to rely on? Think about hiring a Virtual Assistant. There are thousands out there, with the experience and skills, ready and willing to help you. And outsourcing has become a common way to hire help. And can be less expensive, too.
Hire someone qualified to do work you have little experience with. Such as a web developer, writer, direct marketing consultant. Or, get recommendations from other business friends and entrepreneurs. Hire out some work to a knowledgeable college student.
Personally, I've recently hired a great copyrighter, someone to help with email development, and a small company for search engine optimization. These are all highly professional individuals who make my biz life easier by taking work off my hands. Plus, they help keep me out of overwhelm.
If you can't, and you're still in overwhelm, take a long drive, head to the coast or the shore, to a park. Go to a movie. Visit someone you haven't seen in awhile. Pack up and go home for the day; take a nap, do some light-reading, pick your kids up at school and go out for pizza or Mickey D's for example. Rent some videos and zone out.
Don't try to do it all. Get some help. And you'll quickly discover when you do that, it's much easier to inspire yourself.
Make some private time for yourself each day, or at least once a week to pamper yourself.
It's essential to carve out some private time, on regular basis, in order to keep yourself energized, creative and out of the overwhelm trap. Each day brings it's own unique challenges, so it's important to provide yourself some private time to recover and regroup both emotionally and physically.
Read an inspirational book or pick up a book you've been meaning to read. Listen to inspirational tapes or your favorite music using earphones. Take a hot, relaxing bath. Do some simple exercises, work on a hobby.
Sports can help you burn off stress quickly. Get in the habit of walking, jog or participate in other sports which not only help maintain your body, but help re-energize you and clear your head. Even simple stretches can help. Relaxing outside, on a warm or sunny day, can give you a whole new outlook.
Bottom line: It's best to avoid overwhelm if and when you can. But there are a variety of things to do to regroup if you find yourself at that point Once in it, it's important to step away and take time to relax and allow yourself to re-energize. Do that, and you'll usually return with clearer eyes and more options and ideas for handling the situation.
Copyright Jean L. Serio. 2008.
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