The Starting Blocks...

Yesterday I was listening to someone (to be clear I wasn’t eavesdropping, I was listening to them talk to me!) talk about an employee who had taken on a new role and who, perceptibly, for the last 3 months had done nothing/made no progress at all. I asked why they thought that was, if they’d spoken to the employee and their response? “I honestly think that they’re so overwhelmed that they don’t know where to start”.

That reminded me of a quote another friend of mine, who is a personal trainer, used to say

“-you may not have worked very hard today, but you’ve worked harder than the person that hasn’t
even moved from the sofa”.

I’ve always loved that saying and it pops into my head every time I’m beating myself up about not doing enough, not spending enough time with the children, not remembering every little thing, not having a clean
enough house. The fact is that I’m trying and that’s better than someone who isn’t.

Back to this employee. Overwhelm is something that we all feel at times and it’s something that can be, well, overwhelming. (I need a thesaurus) … it’s something that can be overpowering, can swamp us, can engulf us, can feel defeating… you get the idea.

So, if that’s you in that situation, what do you do? Where do you start? I imagine you’re reading this thinking how easy this is for me to say as a super-organised VA, but I’ll let you into my two secrets.

#1 – It’s honestly different for everyone, what works for me (lists, lists and lists… oh and a time plan) doesn’t necessarily work for you, you have to find the way your brain works and what it responds to and

#2 – Just. Start. Somewhere. Like I said above, any progress is good, you don’t want to be that employee who’s spend 3 months doing nothing.

There are some caveats in here – deadlines, priorities etc etc but the fact is that standing still, and panicking will not get anything done so you need to start somewhere.

If it were me I would:

·      
GET IT OUT - Start with a brain dump list (linear if you’re like me, in brainstorm fashion if you are more creative) of everything that you know needs doing – top line tasks only and a mix of bigger things and quick wins.
MAKE QUICK WINS - Go through the quick wins, achieving is the quickest way to get yourself motivated to achieve more and stop that feeling of crushing stress 
GO INTO DETAIL - Write more detailed lists of the things that need a lot of work such as bigger/more complex projects

DELEGATE - Work out where you can ask for help (I recently asked my mum for help so it’s nothing to be embarrassed about)

LET IT GO - Work out what doesn’t need doing. Yes, the house might need cleaning but that won’t pay your mortgage or move your business forward. If there are things are there that are nice to do put them to one side whilst you focus on the things that need doing

FINISH THINGS – If you start something, finish it and follow it through – there is nothing worse than a list of things that have all been half completed. Don’t get distracted and don’t get side-tracked. Close the sale, put that last full stop, submit the results.

So that’s my thought for the day. Getting started when it feels like you can’t.
Happy Thursday everyone.