Anyone who is running their business solo feels this at least some of the time. Things seem to all fall on top of you. There is no flow, no inspiration. In fact, even though you think you are very busy all the time, nothing important gets done, and you feel constantly frustrated and annoyed.

This affects you at every level, emotional, mental and physical. A horrible, nagging feeling of staring at the wall as you have reached the end of the road.

In my life, this feeling is not acceptable to last more than a few days. Allowing for the natural need to stop and recharge, my go-to strategy for dealing with overwhelm can be described in one great word, my friend and an awesome money mindset strategist, Suze Macpaine Pont introduced me to last year.

DE-COMMITTING

I have trained my brain for many years not to get fixated on negativity and problem, but instead, start focusing on solutions whenever anything goes wrong in business or in life.

Usually, when I feel overwhelmed in my business, it has nothing with the amount of work I need to do, or even procrastination when I have to face something scary, although the latter would feel very close to what I am writing about too.

In my experience, the overwhelm is caused by having things that I do not WANT to do, tasks that go against my top values or are not fully aligned with my dream life. And occasionally it is to do with people I do not want to deal with in my life. Luckily I have been blessed with only attracting the best people into my life (it has to do with setting up boundaries).

So what is de-comitting? Simply put, it is a practice of putting yourself and your dream life first and saying NO to everything that does not fit your values or the idea of your dream life.
To me, it will be projects I no longer enjoy getting involved in, types of work that takes more time or brings more headache than satisfaction and fulfilment. (Web design has been that task for me. I used to create websites for my clients as part of my service, but I no longer enjoy doing it, so I decided to say no to any web design projects, and I do not offer any tech support whatsoever to my new clients for the same reason — only consultancy and coaching.) Even having a team member on board who would do it for me is out of the question as long as I have to communicate it to my clients. It is frustrating, and I do not need it in my dream life.

Another example would be just saying no to jobs and tasks that sounds great to implement, but actually, do not bring immediate results in business or help me reach my goals. There is just too much noise and everything feels so exciting and a must-have. Yet, it is just a distraction, and in time it starts feeling like your plate is so full, you can barely keep up with everything.

De-committing from the tasks that do not directly bring me to where I want to be is all about an immediate decision. I can decide right now that I will not get involved, even if I already agreed to it. This means cancelling arrangements, pulling out of projects, getting refunds of purchased programs or software. I used to feel so bad about doing all of these things, but the truth is, it feels immediately amazing when you see the opportunities you have opened up, only by saying no to something you do not think or feel intuitively that you need.

NOT TO DO LISTS

Another strategy that really helps me with overwhelm is making a decision not to do something NOW. Life is full of situations when we are urged to put out fires.

But how many of those fires are our own? And how many are not our problems at all and we get dragged into other people’s disasters. Or sometimes even just something that is not immediate by nature.

I used to drop everything when a client asked me to look at something, said something might not be working as it should, or they needed my advice. But it only added to my overwhelm as the crucial things in my own business were put aside to address other people needs.

No matter how scary it was, in the beginning, to say NO to people, to put my life and my needs first, over tie I see clearly that it is the healthiest way to live. When a small child decides they no longer want something or they lose interest, they immediately switch to something else. It is something we are born with – putting ourselves first. It is a natural thing that is then beaten out of us by culture, religion and society.

And it feels amazing. And it opens up space for creativity, efficiency and smart decisions. And it helps to be fearless and go only for things and situations we genuinely desire.

Next time you feel overwhelmed in your business, ask yourself honestly – what is actually bothering you. What tasks or people in your life are blocking your flow? And start de-committing. Start creating “not to do” lists. Clear your space for something new and exciting.

And enjoy the feeling of freedom that comes with it.