How to Avoid Overwhelm and Get More Done in Your Day

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Business owners are most stressed and overwhelmed when they try to do EVERYTHING in the business. Here are 4 simple tips you can apply to avoid the ruckus and be MORE efficient everyday!

Taking a wild guess, the main reason you began your business is the attractive promise that business owners hold their own time. In simpler terms, they enjoy more free time to do what matters most for them!

But then reality strikes – you don’t IMMEDIATELY get the freedom you’re expecting. There would be long days and nights, and even work on the weekends!

The pile of work becomes overwhelming, not to mention the personal things and responsibilities you’re holding.

So, how do you avoid getting drowned and overwhelmed with everything that’s happening in and out of your business?

One of the books that inspired the tips we’re discussing in this article is entitled, “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy.

In this book, he talked about tackling the hardest, most important things of your day first – or the “frog” – every single day. 

And we’re taking it a little notch up with our personalised approach, as business owners. Ready?

Let’s explore 4 simple tricks you can do as a business owner to relieve yourself from the stress and overwhelm, and eventually live the freedom you are aiming for.

Discover how our Grow With the Flow 2.0 Service can help you reduce the stress and overwhelm by streamlining your systems!

Four Tips To Avoid Overwhelm For Business Owners

One: List down all the tasks you need to do

First things first, make a list of everything you need to do. Brian Tracy’s book, “Eat That Frog,” swears by this method. 

Sounds simple, right? 

But there are times that it’s the simplest things that we usually skip, because of the simplicity of it. 

Again, it’s the small things that make up the great big things. So if you want to let go of the stress, don’t skip the simple ones!

It’s like a brain dump that helps you see the big picture and plan your attack.

Photo by Karolina Kaboompics

TWO: Rank them by values

Once you’re done with your braindumping your daily tasks, here’s the next tip: Determine your low-level and high level tasks.

You can do this by ranking each task by priority and value. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of how to identify low-level tasks versus high-level tasks:

Low-level tasks are the day-to-day, small tasks that need to be completed in order to keep the business running. Admin, marketing on social media, etc. These tasks are usually pretty easy to delegate or outsource.

High-level tasks are the more important tasks that require a lot of thought and usually can’t be delegated or outsourced. These tasks are usually related to strategy and planning and are the backbone of the business.

AND they produce $$$ for the business. An example of this is the handling of discovery calls or meetings with clients.

Go back to your braindump and rate the tasks using the scale of 1-5, with 1 being the least important and 5 being the most important.

You may also consider rating these tasks based on these questions:

How much time do I spend on it?

Do I like performing this task? 

Does it need my full attention and expertise? 

Is it an income-generating job to spend much of my time on?

Tasks with number 5 rank are the ones that need your immediate attention. The rest? Not so much. 

Think of it like if you’ve got children, you will evaluate which of your kids will need the most at the time!

Your 10-year-old probably is a little bit more independent the five-year-old. But the newborn is the one that actually needs you the most. 

So, which of your tasks are your top priorities?

This elimination process helps you focus on the things that really matters. It’s like organising your to-do list by what will make the biggest impact!

THREE: Delegate/automate/remove tasks 

But don’t just leave them in your to-do list.

Tracy’s idea is to tackle the hardest, prioritised tasks first – the ones you dread – and get them out of the way. 

Once those “frogs” are eaten, the rest of your day will feel a lot better!

And here’s the twist that we’re adding in this process – you can delegate, automate, or even remove those “frogs”!

The thing is that most business owners tend to run a one-man show. But there’s a saying that your business is worthless if you’re doing everything in it.

So to regain the power and worth of your business, you should learn how to delegate and automate tasks!

Remember, your business shouldn’t rely on you doing everything. 

For your low-value tasks, you can delegate them to someone else – a Champion, for example, to take care of them. They may be low-value, but they are important!

You might want to onboard a Marketing or an admin Champion to help you relieve the stress and burden.

If you’re in search for the right fit for you, our Rockstar Champion Service can help you out!

And another way to get out of the rut is to automate the tasks which repeatedly happens in your processes.

For example, you can automate the sending of onboarding documents and other client reminders by creating a centralised client portal.

This way, you will never forget another important event with your clients again!

Related read: 5 Green Flags: How to Know You’re Choosing the Right VA Agency

FOUR: Put your A’s into your calendar and stick with that schedule!

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

After identifying your top priority tasks, your list most probably just leaves you less than 10 tasks for the day.

Great job! The next tip is to put them into your calendar, so you won’t forget to do them. When you fail to do that, it trust us, it’s going to be harder for you to make time for it later in the day.

Business owners usually get their calendars all filled out quickly. 

But if you already scheduled the specific times when you’re going to do your priority tasks, It would be easier for you to adjust the sudden meetings that usually pop up during the day. 

You’ll be more controlled of your time and your focus. It all comes down to discipline of scheduling those tasks into your calendar and identify how long they will take, then filling them up in your calendar. 

And then everything else goes in between.

Ah, what a breath of relief!

Bonus Tip: Refine your Systems and Processes with AllSystemsGo!

Sometimes, maybe the reason for the overwhelm is the disparaged operations and processes that some business owners overlook. 

So here’s our bonus tip: take time to revisit your systems and processes! At TGH, we take systems seriously, as we know that the way we do things significantly affects the end results.

Perfecting your workflow might be just what your business needs!

Client Case Study: Sid

Let me share with you a Grow With the Flow session with one of our clients, Sid.

Sid has just launched an amazing new Property Management agency.

He’s focused on systemising everything from the get-go to build a scalable business that also gives him the freedom he craves.

For the record, Sid is a seasoned business owner – having previously sold his PM business in New Zealand. 

And he knows the secret sauce to a successful running and scaling a PM agency – HAVE the right systems and a stellar team.

With our Grow With the Flow 2.0 AKA Systemology service, we mapped out workflows for New Landlords and New Tenants, and pinpointed the necessary processes for each ‘department.’

It’s just him for now, but he’s planning to grow a team with specific departments, so it’s essential that he’s got the right SOPs in place NOW.

From this session, he created a video for each process in his business. To solidify these processes, we seamlessly converted them into step-by-step SOPs (standard operating procedures).

Our Systemology service have 7 sessions, finding ways to optimise his systems by automating tasks like creating a handover form from referrals into his CRM.

With your systems and processes in place, you’re creating the freedom you’ve been aiming for. Less overwhelm and stress!

Automate – Delegate – Eliminate* is the strategy!

💪🏻Ready to get your SOPs in order? Book a time to chat with our Growth Specialist!

Photo by Ketut Subiyanto

Balancing all the demands of running a business can be a lot, but it doesn’t have to overwhelm you. 

By listing all your tasks, prioritising them, delegating the less critical ones, and scheduling the most important ones, you can stay on top of everything.

Remember, refining your systems and processes with tools like our AllSystemsGo! service can streamline your operations even further.

Don’t let the busyness of business hold you back. Take control, find your flow, and watch your business thrive. 

Ready to get things moving? Book a call with our Growth Strategist today and learn about our Grow With the Flow 2.0 service!