Have you noticed how busy everyone seems today? Many of the people I talk to feel overloaded with commitments and activities, and demands on their time and energy. It seems that there is always too much to do and too little time.

Whenever your stress levels are high it doesn't take much to tip you over the edge into that most unwelcome state called "Overwhelm." Overwhelm is what we feel when there are lots of things we need to do, we don't know what to start on first, and we fear that we will never be able to get it all done.

Here are some thoughts on how to recognize overwhelm, what causes overwhelm, how to stay clear of it, and how to get out of it if you find yourself in the midst of it.

How To Recognize Overwhelm
Overwhelm is not simply the state of having lots of things to do. Overwhelm has definite emotional overtones which may include stress, confusion, fear, and anxiety. Synonyms for overwhelm include: upset, submerge, overpower in thought or feeling, drown, engulf, flood, inundate, submerge, swamp, make helpless, crush, and overpower. Often with overwhelm comes a sense of "stuckness" and low motivation. When there is just too much to do, you don't feel motivated to do anything!

Overwhelm is not just a conceptual notion in your head, it is something you feel in your body. It is interesting that often the descent into overwhelm is rather sudden. One moment you are feeling alright (just busy) and then one more thing happens and suddenly you feel overwhelmed.

Many times we are reluctant to acknowledge to ourselves or admit to others that we are feeling overwhelmed because we view it as a sign of weakness. However, it is important to learn to recognize how you personally manifest and experience the first signs of impending overwhelm. Does it start with a tightness in your chest or shoulders? A knot in your stomach? An increase in your pulse? A generalized sense of anxiety or impending doom? Do you find yourself becoming short tempered or mentally confused? Do you feel that if just one more thing happens you are going to explode? Do you find yourself withdrawing or ignoring things to avoid a sense of panic? These are all potential warning signs of impending or full-blown overwhelm.

What Causes Overwhelm?
Most cases of overwhelm occur when a combination of three or more of the following key elements exist:

• You have lots of things you feel you need to do
• You have limited resources (e.g., time, energy)
• You have some degree of fear regarding the situation - for example fear that you are not capable of doing what needs to be done, or fear of the consequences of your potential actions or inaction
• You want to make everything perfect
• You neglect your self-care to the point where you begin to lose your perspective

Some people are more naturally prone to experience overwhelm than others, especially people who have very high expectations of themselves and others (i.e., perfectionists), those who feel highly responsible (over-responsible?) for everything and everyone, those who like a high degree of control over everything that happens around them (control freaks?), and those with a highly sensitive nature who react strongly to any kind of physical and emotional stimulation.

Here are a few examples of specific circumstances or situations that can cause overwhelm:

1. You have too many choices and are afraid of picking the wrong one.
2. You are very task oriented and something gets in the way of your completing what you want to get done.
3. You have internalized an association between stress and productivity - you believe that if something seems too easy you must not be doing it right, so you create the necessary stress/panic level that makes you feel you are doing something important.
4. Everything that you need to do seems to be at an equal level of priority so it is not obvious which needs to be tackled first.
5. You find it hard to say "No" to people so you take on more than you can possibly do.
6. You have weak personal boundaries and other people consume your time and energy leaving you no personal reserves to handle what you need to do. For example, they may call you at all hours of the day and night, show up at your house uninvited, or interrupt you when you are trying to get something done.
7. You are never quite satisfied with your own performance and constantly keep raising the bar on what you expect of yourself.
8. You tend to focus on everything that is wrong in the situation versus what is right.

How Can You Steer Clear Of Overwhelm?
Here are four things you can do to set up the situation to help you stay out of overwhelm:

• Learn to recognize your own personal warning signs that you are about to tip into overwhelm - that way you can apply the tools discussed below to recover from overwhelm before you experience the full-blown symptoms.
• Make it your practice to "under promise and over deliver." Only promise to do what you absolutely know you can do within the given time frame. Then if you find yourself with extra time and energy, and you feel like being generous or giving extra value, you can go ahead and do more than you promised.
• Find ways to say "No" that are comfortable for you and practice using them.
• Learn how to set and defend strong personal boundaries - here is a free tool that may help: "How To Set And Defend Your Personal Boundaries".

How To Get Out Of Overwhelm
Here are some techniques to try:

Admit that you are overwhelmed. This is always the first step. When you admit that you have too much going on then you can do something about it.

Imagine how you want to feel in the situation: powerful, in control, excited, motivated, working effortlessly, etc. See if you can experience what this feels like.

Find your focus. You are going to need to pick what you want to tackle first. If you view all of the tasks before you as having equal priority then there is no obvious first step. You are going to need to establish some priorities. Here are some tools you can use to find your personal priorities:

• Identify the global purpose, context, or theme of everything you need to do and then ask yourself what activities will best advance this central objective. What is it that you really want to achieve? Do you have (or can you define) an overriding mission, vision, or purpose that can guide your prioritization?
• Prioritize based on your values (what is most important to you). Do you value adventure, contribution, creativity, learning, relating, mastery, accomplishing, winning, teaching, leading? Give precedence to tasks that support your values.
• Consider not only what you want to get done but also Who you want to be in setting your priorities.
• Ask yourself, "How will my performance be judged by others?" This question can be helpful when prioritizing tasks at work. Ask yourself, "What was I really hired to do? What does my boss/company expect of me? What will benefit those that work for me or with me?"
• Identify the tasks that when completed will eliminate the need for other tasks on your To Do list, and then do them first. For example, sometimes if you act to put procedures or "systems" in place you can stem the seemingly unending number of "fires" you need to fight.

Get an outside opinion. This is especially helpful when your sense of overwhelm is accompanied by a keen sense of confusion - when the situation or options you are facing just don't seem to make sense.

Take Action. The emotions and unpleasant physical sensations of overwhelm multiply when you are stuck in the analysis phase so it helps if you can move quickly into action. You can use one of the above-listed techniques to prioritize the tasks before you so that you can move ahead. If none of the above prioritization techniques appeals to you then you can try a simpler scheme: for example, simply start with the smallest/easiest project first, or start with the biggest and scariest project first, or start with the project that has you most concerned or is most time critical. You can even just commit to take action for a specific amount of time: for example, "I will work on getting items off my To Do list for the next hour." The important thing is to start doing something so that you can experience the energy and relief that come when items move off your To Do list.

Delegate. Give some of your tasks to someone else so your list becomes smaller and more manageable. This is a real challenge for perfectionists but ask yourself which is most important - doing it yourself or getting it done?

Disentangle your feelings of self worth from your To Do list. If you constantly tell yourself that you are not doing enough, not doing things fast enough, or are not doing them well enough you will eventually believe that "You" are not enough. Remember that you are much more than the sum total of what you do.

Make sure you set up your environment to support you. If you have lots to do, look at how you work best and honor it. Look at what kinds of tasks you do best at what times of day. Do you do better working alone or brainstorming with others? Are you OK with interruptions when you are working hard on something or do you find them totally disruptive? Respect your own personal style of working and structure your schedule and your environment to support you.

Recognize when You are the problem. If you notice that you seem to be the only one in a given situation who feels overwhelmed while everyone around you is doing fine, this may be a sign you are contributing to your own problems. Perhaps you are feeling overwhelmed because you set unrealistically high expectations for yourself, or because you believe that things must "feel difficult", or because you have a highly sensitive nature but don't acknowledge or respect your personal limits.

Summary
If you stay too long in a state of overwhelm you will eventually progress to burnout. If you learn how to recognize overwhelm, avoid it, or recover from it quickly you will not only feel better, you will likely also be more productive!

What is your point of view? Please post your thoughts on the discussion board.

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