How to Overcome Overwhelm
Goals and dreams can be overwhelming. There are so many times where we get lost in our emotions and lose our productivity in a time where we need to be most productive. We are not meeting our goals. We need to do more. We have so much to do at work, and so much to do at home. This post in inspired by one of my incredibly talented reps who had a very overwhelming week at work.
There are so many quotes on planning and preparation. Here are a few of my favorites.
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. -Benjamin Franklin
Proper planning prevents poor performance. -Stephen Keague
Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. -Zig Ziglar
Think training is hard? Try losing. -Nike
But my absolute favorite story is the one about the lumberjacks, which was made famous by Stephen R. Covey in The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People.
It was the annual lumberjack competition and the final was between an older experienced lumberjack and a younger, stronger lumberjack. The rule of the competition was quite simply who could fell the most trees in a day was the winner.
The younger lumberjack was full of enthusiasm and went off into the wood and set to work straight away, he worked all through the day and all through the night. As he worked he could hear the older lumber jack working to in another part of the forest, he felt more and more confident with every tree he felled that he would win.
At regular intervals throughout the day the noise of frees being felled coming from the other part of the forest would stop, the younger lumberjack took heart from this knowing that this meant the older lumberjack was taking a rest, whereas he could use his superior youth and strength and stamina to keep going.
At the end of the competition the younger lumberjack felt confident he had won, he looked in front of him at the piles of felled trees that were the result of his superhuman effort.
At the medal ceremony he stood on the podium confident and expecting to be awarded the prize of champion lumberjack, next to him stood the older lumberjack who looked surprisingly less exhausted than he felt.
When the results were read out he was devastated to hear that the older lumberjack had chopped down significantly more trees than he had, he turned to the older lumber jack and said,
“How can this be? I heard you take a rest every hour and I worked continuously through the night, once more I am stronger and fitter than you old man”.
The older lumberjack turned to him and said,
“Every hour I took a break to rest and sharpen my saw”
Sharpen your saw by following the right people.
I was stupid when I was a single person. I would go on dates, and I would tell all of my single friends about the dates. Of course, after explaining how it went, I would ask them, “what do you think?” If I was having issues with the guys I was dating, I would call my friend (who was also dating a sketchy guy) and ask her what was going on, and what does she think I should do. The problem? MY FRIENDS WERE ALSO SINGLE AND STUPID! They were not more successful than I was. The best advice I ever got was by my friend Jody, who was MARRIED! Duh Tasha.
The same things happen professionally. I might ask for advice on my blog from my husband, whose blog is 3 weeks older than mine. Or I might ask for validation from another, less experienced manager, instead of the best manager in my organization. I have seen my reps pick up verbiage from other reps who are performing worse than they are because “it sounded good.” It’s a lot more comfortable to be a big fish in a small pond than to be the small fish.
I am going to challenge you on this. I know it can be scary and damaging to the ego to admit you are overwhelmed to someone who is performing at a high level. Do it anyway. Your mentor will empathize with how you feel because they were in your shoes once. They will show you how to side step obstacles, or eliminate them altogether. No successful person becomes that way alone. Getting proper guidance will save you many hours of heartache and overwhelm.
Success tip #1: When you are freaking out, call your mentor!
Sharpen your saw by planning what you are going to say.
I had a wonderful rep who would tell me she needed to take a break after each phone call she had. She said she was exhausted and was convinced she was an introvert. I thought that was strange since to this day she is one of the most enthusiastic and bubbly people I know. A strange thing happened after a few weeks of training. She wasn’t tired anymore. She was energized by each conversation. What changed? We made a call outline for her.
I’m sure I’m going to get lit up with comments about how robotic people sound when they read from a script. That is not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about paragraphs written out that you would read from, like an annoying telemarketer. The outline should be written with bullet points, highlighting important questions to ask and items to explain. If you would like to call that a script, you are welcome to. I call it an outline.
There are two huge reasons that an outline is important for your success and for outstanding service for your customer. First, you will not miss any important points that you need to discuss with your customer. Anytime I have ever seen a decrease in the effectiveness of one of my reps, it always comes back to the outline getting shoved under some papers, Second, since you will not be thinking about what to say, you can focus all of your energy on listening. This was my rep’s problem. The cognitive load was too high.
One major caveat to making sure your outline is successful- make sure your mentor has input and final say.
Success tip #2: Have an outline for your conversation.
Sharpen your saw by planning what you are going to do next.
Overwhelm often comes from doing things as they come up. In the sales world there is not enough time. As soon as you are ready to make some calls, boom! An email that you must get to right away. The emails go back and forth and you leave for the day behind and then overwhelmed for the next day.
A written plan keeps you on focus. There is great power in breaking down your goals by week (no matter what your goal is- lose weight, cook more at home, start a blog) and writing your action items down by day.
In the technological age, online planners are everywhere. And they are so cool. My iCal syncs with my phone, iPad, computer, and my husband’s phone. I can look at my planner from anywhere. However, I still don’t look at my iCal because it’s hidden on my phone. Outlook at work is similar. If I’m looking at my email I am not looking at my plan. Therefore, I get lost in email and never do my plan. I saw an immediate boost in productivity at work when I stopped being cheap and went back to my Planner Pad.
Having a planner is not enough. You need to take at least 30 minutes each week to make the plan for the following week. I plan my week the Friday before. I run a few reports and write down my major objectives for the following weeks. Once I have clarified my priorities, I make a to-do list for each day. That’s it. That’s my plan. When things get crazy, I look down to my left at my planner and get back to my priority list. And I feel better.
Success tip #3: Use a gosh darn planner! Write down what you need to do for each day.
Recap
Overwhelm is a terrible place to live. We often think that time just needs to pass, and things will be easier someday. Take control of your success and take these practical steps to overcome overwhelm.
Leave a comment below with which success tip makes the most sense for you to start doing.
Have an emerging day! (What does that even mean? I don’t know either.)
Tasha
P.S. Did you like this post? Check out additional tools at www.emergesalestraining.com/maximize.