start getting more done I couldn’t help but notice out of the corner of my eye that my stack of sticky notes was piling up fast.

No more excuses: How to stop feeling so overwhelmed and start getting stuff done

Every time I accomplished one thing, I felt like I was writing down five more.

How did I get here?

Well, I certainly haven’t been practicing Essentialism.

I know exactly how I got here: I’ve said ‘yes’ to way too many things. Again.

Regardless – no pity parties allowed. I know I’m not the only one who gets busy, feels overwhelmed, or wishes there were more time in the day.

Today, it stops

A few years ago I was given my power back.

Guess who gave it me?

ME.

I’m consistently reminding myself that I am the one who creates my schedule (John likes to remind me of this, too) ;)

Too many calls?

Spreading myself too thin?

I only have myself to blame.

I’M IN CHARGE of my own schedule.

I get to decide.

Do the excuses and overwhelm stop today?

Only you and I can declare that for ourselves.

For me? I decided my answer is YES, and I welcome you to make the same declaration for yourself.

No more excuses. I’m ready to start getting stuff done- without piling on more stuff at quadruple the speed.

But just to lay it all out on the line…

This is tough stuff.

I’m not saying we get to just tell ourselves that our answer is yes and then everything changes suddenly.

Like everything in life, our decisions and words have to be followed up by actions to mean something. It’s a process.

Actions speak louder than words

I think the biggest struggle I’ve faced since becoming an entrepreneur – even though this is something I consider to be one of my biggest skills and assets (I know, ironic) – is knowing what to focus on, and when.

There are so many things I’d LOVE to work on, but in the past several months I’ve missed out on asking myself a critical question:

Should I be working on this?

The actions I’m taking are not in line with what I want for my day-to-day.

What I’m actually doing isn’t creating an atmosphere where I can stop feeling so overwhelmed and start getting stuff done.

And sometimes I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.

When I find myself in that position, I turn to my friends, my accountability partner, and my mastermind for help. An outside perspective from someone who can relate to what you’re going through is incredibly powerful.

What’s more is that these are the people who I know I can rely on to not let me make excuses.

3 Steps to help make it happen

There are 3 steps I’ve followed in my quest for: No more excuses: stop feeling so overwhelmed and start getting stuff done. They are:

1. Get clear

Having a clear picture of where I want to be, and what I want my day-to-day to look like. Then, comparing that picture to where I am right now.

The difference between those two things makes it clear to me that this a matter of me practicing essentialism. I’m never going to get my time back if I continue saying yes to too many thing.

2. Put a plan in place

Now that I know exactly what’s keeping me from getting to the day-to-day that I want, I know what I need to do to get there:

Stop saying yes to everything – really be critical of the commitments I make
Finish every project I’ve committed to, and that I’ve been putting on the back burner so that it’s no longer a source of excuses and overwhelm

3. Do the work

SCRUM has been my best friend these past couple of weeks.

Finish every project I’ve committed to? Yes, it’s going to be a lot of work, but I know that because I have SCRUM, and because I have a clear picture of where I want to be, and because I have a plan (knowing exactly what I need to do to get to where I want to be), now, I simply have to do the work.

Bonus: Accountability

Having an accountability partner or being a part of a mastermind is priceless. As I mentioned before, when you’re feeling frustrated, or you’re having doubts about where you’re at vs. where you want to be, your accountability group and/or mastermind are going to be there to support you.

And more importantly, they will not let you make excuses as to why you haven’t followed the 3 steps we just covered ;)

Resources

When I started writing this post I realized how many resources I have on the topics of excuses, overwhelm and getting stuff done. I thought it would be helpful to list them here for further reading – perhaps some of these will be very powerful for you, while others don’t apply to you right now.

I’ll let YOU decide :)