Leading through overwhelm

Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed? 

Is overwhelm keeping you from being the strong leader you wish to be? 

Does confusion own your mindspace more often than clarity? 

We are living in significantly more turbulent and complex times than ever before. 

In such conditions, it’s important to note that our minds are set to revert to protection mode (fight, flight or freeze). According to McKinsey research, work teams spend 60-70% of their time in protection mode, making it near impossible to collaborate, adapt or be productive. 

So how can you do high-caliber work and live your purpose when overwhelm is constant? 

Most of my clients are asking this same question often, so I thought sharing 5 Practices for Leading Through Overwhelm might be of value. 

1    Slow everything down. 

Your immediate response when put in unfamiliar territory will be to react with heightened intensity. Expect this; it’s a survival default. Instead, can you intentionally take some deep breaths and force yourself to see everything in slow motion? Make it a game so that you can have a significantly better perspective of reality. 

2    Step back and take inventory.

What are the facts? When in a state of overwhelm, reality is oftentimes distorted by our emotions, so you have to ask yourself what is actually occurring (with your emotions removed.) What visible evidence do you have that what you perceive is factual? The more finite facts you can gather, the better.

3    Practice self-awareness.

We all react differently depending upon our personal programming. When the heat has been turned up in other instances, what’s your response? Knowing this will help you understand and predict how you’ll likely respond again. You are, afterall, more likely to repeat an old pattern of response under duress than commit to a new one. Self-awareness is the key to knowing what you typically do. Now, can you go deeper and start to think of WHY you do what you do? 

4    Manage your fear.   

With some understanding of your typical response mechanisms, you’ll now (hopefully) be more present to the emotions that may be clouding your judgment when uncertainty is prevalent. Fear is the biggest contender for overwhelm during uncertainty. You likely project significantly more adverse outcomes than will actually come to pass. Can you see how fear projects unrealistic notions and stokes the fire of overwhelm? 

What practice helps you most when dealing with fear? For some it’s breath work, others prayer, while others need hard, physical exercise to win against the deafening, negative chatter in their head.  Often, facing the fear head on and walking into the fire, with as much calm as you can muster, eradicates the fear completely. Practice often and, with self-awareness of what works, decide to bring this ‘best tool’ with you into the ring the next time uncertainty is present.

5    Decide what matters.

We all have personal values and purpose at stake as we respond. It can help immensely to take time to ask your heart/higher self what truly matters to you in this moment. Others will have different responses. Following your own, internal guidance will always provide the right answer and build your self-esteem and sovereignty. 

When the heat is turned up, your response CAN be one of heart and consciousness. 

Each of these practices is exceptionally powerful in its own right. Being successful however takes practice and a commitment to not just doing but being better. 

This is the work that I specialize in. If you’d like support for yourself or someone on your team, reach out HERE. I’m helping calm things down, one client at a time. I’d love to support you as well so that you can get on with the big work you’re meant to do. 

Hope to hear from you soon.