I have a coaching client who I love working with. He's motivated, heart-centered, genuine, and believes in himself enough to work hard, invest in himself, and release a lot of music.
But he, like so many of us hustlers, battles with putting unrealistic expectations on himself. I know that battle. I've been there. I think so many of us have.
He recently sent me an email telling me that his to-do lists were piling up and he was feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work he created for himself and his looming deadlines.
What follows is my response to him. I asked him if I could share it with the crew because I felt like we all need to hear this.
Here it is:
Dude, it takes a lot of courage to have these types of honest conversations with yourself and to share them with others. Good shit. Here's my perspective:
1. Acknowledge and forgive yourself that you have limitations
First off, the amount of work you're doing is normally handled by a team of multiple people. For one person to attempt to handle everything would be to deny the fact that we're human, to deny that we have limitations. To accept and acknowledge your limitations is to celebrate your human-ness. Being human is the best, so it stands to reason that having human limitations is also awesome. I see you though, the feeling of overwhelm is real and I'm sorry you're feeling it. I've felt that too, and continue to struggle with it, for sure.
When I've reached my multitask threshold, it's because I'm trying to do too much in too short a time. Think of [the amount of tasks] and [time to complete the tasks] as being directly related. The higher [the amount of tasks] the more [time to complete the tasks] you'll need. It's like a law of physics, it can't be broken (unless you figure out time travel, the equivalent of hiring another team member).
2. Choose your highest priority goals and set more realistic timeframes
If hiring team members isn't an option (good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good), then the best thing to do is make the tough decision of prioritizing your goals. Instead of 5 goals, choose 2 or 3. Know that you'll eventually get to the other goals in due time, but only if you avoid burnout by creating a more sustainable workload for yourself.
This can be a tough thing because all our goals feel important. If you truly feel that all your goals are vital, consider giving yourself more time to do them.
Hit me back, this email doesn't need to be the end of this convo. Sometimes it can help to ping pong the thoughts back and forth, with the real breakthroughs happening a few volleys down the line.
You're doing good work, keep it light, don't put unrealistic expectations on yourself. Rock on, dude.
// James
Are you struggling with overwhelm? Leave a comment if you can relate. Sometimes just voicing it can help.
Take care.
// James
