On today’s episode, James and Phoebe show you how to filter out overwhelm so you know what to do, and when to do it!
James has become good at filtering out what isn’t essential. He doesn’t like to waste time and for him, it’s all about how to do things more efficiently.
You should keep your brain like you would your home: clean, open and clutter free. Many days you’ll find that you’re crossing off less items on your to-do list than you are adding to it. By doing this, you are constantly in a “to-do list deficit.”
He doesn’t experience overwhelm now, but he does experience himself growing and taking on more than he use to be able to. He’s been able to do this with the support of a team and the systems that he now has in place in the business.
Phoebe feels that once you get out of overwhelm once and do it more often, you’ll be in a better position to handle it the next time.
Not much gets done with you’re in a state of overwhelm, and it’s probably when you are your least productive self.
There’s a natural learning curve you need to expect when starting to use something new, such as a software program. If you try to be an early adopter of every new thing out there, you’ll constantly be chasing what’s next and dealing the bugs that exist, along with the limited features.
A guiding filtering process you can use is to consider what is that one thing that by doing it will make everything else easier, or unnecessary.
How to Filter Out Overwhelm
1.Have clarity around your goal
It’s important for you to focus on one “bridge” at a time and determine if you are on, or off, target.
2. Begin with the end in mind
Determine what your end goal is, and then immediately set out to define the 5% of activities that will get you 95% of the results you’re looking for. You’ll need to filter out those activities that are causing the overwhelm, but most people do these non-essential tasks first because they tend to be easier to complete. If the thing you are doing isn’t scary, then it’s probably not in the 5% of what you should be doing!
3. Have a plan
Map out a short series of action items you will be completing as you work backwards from your goal. While you do this, look at the list and identify the opportunity costs associated with each. How much time, money, effort and/or stress is it going to cost you? Is the payoff bigger than the cost?
4. Ask yourself a series of questions
Some examples of questions to ask are: Does this really need to get down in order to hit my goal? Does it need to be done right now? Do I need to be the one doing it, and if not, who else can do this for me?
A lot of what you’re looking to do, you’ve done before, so don’t forget that you are able to recycle or repurpose your content so you’re not starting from scratch!
5. Understand the fundamentals
The Internet business has really been around for 100 years, but in a different form as direct mail campaigns. These campaigns arrived direct to someone’s physical mailbox, but still contained sales letters with headlines, copy, testimonials and bonuses. By going back to the fundamentals of marketing, it’ll help you make the right decisions!
James looks at things through the lens of three things, which he refers to as the “TLC” method: traffics, leads and conversions. Every transaction online happens in this order, but you need a specific strategy for each.
Overwhelm is a big deal and you’re not alone in feeling it. Today we’re told that we need to be doing everything and be everywhere or our business will die, but this simply isn’t the case. Be clear on your goal and understand the fundamentals, and by doing this, you’ll be on your way to filtering out all of the things that are overwhelming you.
LINKS:
Episode 048: How to Overcome Overwhelm
Episode 082: Effortless Launching
The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
