In this episode of Coffee and Feelings I explore the topic of being overwhelmed as a creative, a business owners, and/or blogger. Check out below for an outline of the podcast and show notes.

As I am just starting up this new venture with my online business, I’ve felt overwhelmed by a variety of things. As exciting as starting to work for myself is, it can get overwhelming. There is so much I want to do, and so much I feel like I should be doing, that I feel like will never get to where I want to be. But, learning is really the exciting part and it’s never going to stop so might as well enjoy the process and learn as much as I can!

I’ve noticed for me, I feel overwhelmed in 3 different types of situations:

1. Living in the future – not feeling like I am good enough in the present

2. Having too many ideas and not knowing how to implement or organize them

3. Having too many tasks to do

1. Living in the future

Sometimes when we are overwhelmed, it’s because we are living in the future. What I mean is – we see where we want to be and we are constantly trying to get there. we see everything we need to do, not sure how to even start. It can feel overwhelming and frustrating to not be where you want to be, especially if you don’t know how to get there.

One thing that helps is learning to be present. I always find myself wanting to be somewhere else other than where I am. I want to be better at what I do, smarter, have more followers… I’ve started to tell myself – I’m never going to be further than I am. I’m just where I am! The only thing I can do is just to keep doing what I love – whatever that is for you, just keep doing it. Keep creating, keep writing, keep making wordpress themes, keep blogging, keep knitting, keep cooking, keep making your thing – and enjoy it! Learn as much as you can, and take one day at a time – because you don’t really have another choice.

If  you feel  you aren’t where you want to be, take comfort in knowing that just showing up is where you should be. You just need to show up everyday and do the work you love, and keep on practicing your thing and have faith that this will be enough. Just showing up is enough.

2. Having too many ideas

You might have a crazy amount of ideas and not even know where to start. Well, start with writing them all down (if you haven’t already)! I organize all of my ideas in lists on wunderlist. I even have a free worksheet download on writing down your ideas and planning them out if you want to check that out. It’s a pretty actionable process that’s worked quite well for me-it’s all about coming up with big ideas and breaking them down into small, actionable tasks. It’s important to find what works best for you, though.

I organize all of the things I want to do in categories so I can find them later. For example, I have a folder on things I want to do for my website. Within that folder, I have different types of things I want to do complete. Like courses I want to make, WordPress themes I want to make, blog posts I want to write and the categories they will be under, podcast ideas, periscope ideas… etc.

If you’ve already done that and don’t even know where to start with all these ideas, I feel you. One night I just felt so scatter brained. Even though I had these lists, I didn’t know what to do with them or what the next step was for me.

So, I sat down with my notebook, and wrote out all of the projects I had in my brain that day. I didn’t write down every idea I’ve written down in my lists, but jsut the ones that were in my brain. I listed them out, and decided to prioritize them. I numbered them in list of importance to me. You can also number them in a way that will flow with your business. For example, I eventually want to make a course on teachable. But, there are other things I want to do before that that are smaller tasks that would gain me more of an audience – like creating an email course. So I would just focus on that, and not worry about the other stuff on my list until this was completed.

Look over the list and feel the flow of which way to go. What is your top priority right now? What projects would be best leading up to other projects? Number them and just focus on your next idea. They may change later and that’s okay, it’s all about changing and growing. But just for now, focus on the next thing.

It’s also important to look at what projects you are doing now and projects you want to do, and if they would make you happy and if they fit within your business. Don’t do something that would stress you the heck out. You can try it for sure, but the beauty of doing creative business is that you don’t have to stick with it.

See what happens. Trial and error, that’s all it is.

3.  Having too many tasks

I love organizing my tasks, because it really helps in feeling less overwhelmed. Have a to do list for what you want to complete every day for the week, and fill it out at the beginning of the week. You can also have a list of tasks you want to complete that month.

Think of ways to be more efficient with your tasks. Maybe some of them can be automated (like scheduling your social media or blog posts). Maybe some tasks can be outsourced.

You might not want to do those specific things, but I think its important to figure out ways to be efficient with your growing lists of tasks. At least write out your tasks, figure out which ones are important or not important, ways to complete them, and organize them into daily, small, actionable to dos.

I like to make short to-do lists for the day, because I can always add more tasks later. Long to do lists can make you feel more overwhelmed.

One more thing – If you’re feeling overwhelmed, just take a break for a second. I give you permission. Take a walk, take a bath, watch TV, paint, listen to music, whatever you want to do. When you come back to your projects an hour later, a day later, 2 days later, whatever, you may find your mind is refreshed and you have more room in your brain to focus on getting your tasks done. You might even come back feeling inspired by your tasks and projects rather than overwhelmed.

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on dealing with being overwhelmed, so please feel free to comment with anything you do when you start to feel overwhelmed!

Hey there, beautiful creative! My twin sister (who is a music therapist) and I are starting a twitter chat! Join us!