So You're Feeling Overwhelmed at Work. Overwhelm is a Mental State.
Overwhelm is not about the people in your life. It's not about your team or your boss or your senior leaders. It's a mental state.
But that means there's something that you can do about it. Once you've identified the thoughts and the beliefs that are creating these feelings of overwhelm, then you can do something about them.
All you need to do is change your thoughts and beliefs about whatever situation is causing you overwhelm. That's it. If you are really nervous because you're not hitting your numbers, and the thought is that you're going to get dinged by senior leadership, or you're going to lose your credibility - change your thoughts. It’s just a thought. It's just a fear. Fears and thoughts just come through us, like butterflies in and out of our heads. We don't need to attach to them.
In fact, the best thing that we can do is just become aware. Just be a great detective of our minds. Be aware of the thoughts going through us, and then don’t attach to them. If we find ourself attaching to one of these kind of thoughts and getting all stressed out, then it's just about stopping, recognizing this, and then changing the belief. Change the thought so that it actually produces positive feelings.
Because the fear that you might have had about getting demoted because you're not hitting your numbers - it's just a fear. There may not be any reality to that whatsoever. And even if there was, your thoughts about it - your fears about it - aren't going to change anything, it's just going to make it worse.
Once You've Identified the Thought that's Creating the Overwhelm, just Turn it Around and Make it into a Positive yet Realistic Thought or Belief that Works for You.
So if you're concerned or fearful that you're going to get demoted because you're not hitting your numbers, how can that be turned around into a positive yet realistic belief? It might be: “Right now, I'm not hitting my numbers. But maybe there's something I can do with my team - to strategize, to plan, to try to hit our numbers.”
But that's an action-oriented thought. It doesn't even have to be that way. It could literally just be: “It's all going to be fine. That even if I don't hit my numbers, I'm not going to be demoted. Or even if I do get demoted, then that might be a good thing. I'm not sure if I really want this position after all - it's really stressful.”
It's not about finding the perfect thought or the perfect belief. It's just about finding one that calms your nerves. That gives you some hope. That breathes life into your bones. And then, once you've chosen that new thought, that new belief, really get into it. Because that's your belief you're creating. You are owning that belief.
And as you do, notice how your feelings start to shift. And this is the actual key - that our thoughts create our feelings. Our feelings then determine our actions. So as we start to feel better, we're going to act differently. And we all know that actions create results.
By changing our thoughts and beliefs, we're not just minimizing and decreasing our overwhelm. We're actually transforming our results.
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