How to Stop Being Constantly Overwhelmed

Summary

In this video, the speaker, a self-employed entrepreneur, candidly discusses the overwhelming feeling of being constantly busy and shares his plan to regain balance. He introduces the concept of a 'reset sprint' to reorganize life, emphasizes the importance of reestablishing routines, and stresses the need to define priorities and learn to say 'No' to avoid burnout. The speaker also highlights the joy of continuous learning and discovery, suggesting platforms like CuriosityStream for educational content.

Takeaways

• 😌 The speaker has been feeling overwhelmed for months due to taking on too many tasks without external pressure.
• 🏃‍♂️ They've initiated a 'reset sprint' to reorganize their life and regain control over their to-do system and Evernote.
• 🔄 The concept of burnout is discussed, highlighting the need to balance sprints with periods of balance to avoid exhaustion.
• 🛠️ The importance of reestablishing a morning routine is emphasized, even if it starts simple and grows over time, using the 'success spirals' approach.
• 🚫 Learning to say 'no' to opportunities, even lucrative ones, is crucial to maintaining balance and avoiding burnout.
• 🎯 Defining clear priorities helps in making decisions about which opportunities to pursue and which to decline.
• 🎼 The joy of discovery and learning new skills, such as playing the piano, is a personal priority that should not be sacrificed for business opportunities.
• 📝 The speaker suggests using tools like a habit tracker to maintain consistency in daily routines.
• 📚 CuriosityStream is recommended as a resource for continuous learning and discovery through documentaries.
• 💡 A special offer for CuriosityStream is provided, giving viewers 30 days of free access to explore the platform.
• 👍 The speaker encourages viewers to like, subscribe, and follow for more content, emphasizing the value they find in the video.

Q & A

What is the main issue the speaker has been facing for the past five or six months?

The speaker has been feeling overwhelmed due to having too much to do and not enough time to get it all done, which they attribute to taking on more tasks than they can handle.

What is the speaker's occupation and why does this contribute to their feeling of being overwhelmed?

The speaker is a self-employed entrepreneur, which means there is no boss dictating tasks, leading them to take on more responsibilities than they can manage, causing feelings of being overwhelmed.

What is the concept of a 'reset sprint' as mentioned in the script?

A 'reset sprint' is a focused period of time dedicated to reorganizing one's life and systems, such as to-do lists, Evernote, and physical belongings, to bring back balance and order.

Why did the speaker feel the need to do a 'reset sprint'?

The speaker felt the need for a 'reset sprint' because their organizational systems had decayed due to handling multiple projects, and they needed to reorganize to bring balance back into their life.

What is the significance of reestablishing routines according to the speaker?

Reestablishing routines is significant because it provides structure and makes the speaker more effective during their working hours, preventing the feeling of being overwhelmed.

What is the concept of 'success spirals' mentioned in the script?

'Success spirals' is a concept from 'The Motivation Hacker' by Nick Winter, which suggests building new habits by starting small and gradually increasing the difficulty over time, allowing for consistent habit formation.

Why is it important to start with a simple routine when trying to reestablish habits?

Starting with a simple routine is important because it allows individuals to prove to themselves that they can be consistent with a small commitment before gradually adding more complexity to their habits.

What is the main challenge the speaker faces when trying to define their priorities?

The main challenge the speaker faces is the struggle to say 'No' to lucrative opportunities in their business that could potentially block them from focusing on their true priorities, such as the joy of discovery.

What does the speaker suggest as a method to maintain the joy of discovery?

The speaker suggests learning something new every day or week, such as playing the piano, reading, or watching documentaries, to maintain the joy of discovery.

How does the speaker propose to manage the increasing opportunities and the risk of burnout?

The speaker proposes to manage this by defining clear priorities, learning to say 'No' to opportunities that do not align with these priorities, and maintaining a balance between work and personal growth.

What is the role of CuriosityStream in the script, and how does it relate to the speaker's message?

CuriosityStream is mentioned as a service that offers a wide range of documentaries, which aligns with the speaker's message of maintaining the joy of discovery by learning something new every day or week.

Outlines

00:00

😥 Overwhelm and the Self-Employed Entrepreneur

The speaker reflects on the past five to six months of feeling overwhelmed due to an excessive workload. As a self-employed entrepreneur, they acknowledge taking on more tasks than manageable without external pressure. The speaker has been working on rectifying this by creating a plan to restore balance, starting with a 'reset sprint' to reorganize personal and professional systems. They mention the common issue of burnout due to continuous sprinting in various life aspects and emphasize the importance of balancing sprints with periods of stability.

05:02

🔄 The Reset Sprint and Rebuilding Routines

The speaker details their plan to combat overwhelm, beginning with a 'reset sprint' to reorganize life systems, including digital organization and physical space. They stress the importance of reestablishing routines, starting with simple habits and gradually building up to more complex ones, using the concept of 'success spirals' from 'The Motivation Hacker' by Nick Winter. The speaker shares their personal morning routine evolution, which began with basic activities and expanded to include reading, writing, and piano practice, illustrating the process of incrementally building new habits.

10:03

🚫 Defining Priorities and Embracing the Joy of Discovery

The speaker discusses the third step of their plan, which involves defining clear priorities and learning to say 'no' to opportunities that do not align with these priorities. They share their struggle with the increasing opportunities that come with business success and the internal conflict between pursuing these opportunities and maintaining personal interests like learning to play the piano. The speaker emphasizes the importance of not stifling the desire for discovery and the need to prioritize personal joy alongside professional success. They suggest printing out and displaying a list of priorities as a constant reminder and conclude by recommending continuous learning and exploration, mentioning CuriosityStream as a resource for documentaries that can fuel curiosity.

Keywords

💡Overwhelmed

Being 'overwhelmed' refers to a state of feeling excessively burdened or unable to cope with the demands placed upon oneself. In the video, the speaker describes feeling overwhelmed due to the multitude of tasks and responsibilities they have taken on as a self-employed entrepreneur. This term is central to the theme, as it sets the stage for the speaker's journey to regain balance and control over their life.

💡Self-employed entrepreneur

A 'self-employed entrepreneur' is an individual who runs their own business and is responsible for all aspects of its operation. The speaker identifies as such, highlighting the lack of external oversight and the freedom to take on as many projects as they choose, which has contributed to their feeling of being overwhelmed.

💡Reset sprint

A 'reset sprint' is a focused period of intense effort aimed at reorganizing and reevaluating one's systems and habits to improve efficiency and reduce feelings of being overwhelmed. The speaker introduces this concept as the first step in their plan to regain control and balance in their life, emphasizing the need to address organizational decay and entropy.

💡Burnout

'Burnout' is a state of chronic physical and emotional exhaustion often caused by excessive and prolonged stress. The video discusses how continuous sprints without breaks can lead to burnout. The speaker uses this term to illustrate the importance of balancing intense work periods with times of rest and recovery.

💡Routine

A 'routine' is a sequence of regular actions or activities that are performed daily or in a specific order. The speaker mentions that their overwhelmed state led to the neglect of their routine, which in turn affected their productivity. Reestablishing a routine is presented as a crucial step in the speaker's plan to regain balance.

💡Success spirals

'Success spirals' is a concept from 'The Motivation Hacker' by Nick Winter, which suggests building new habits by starting small and gradually increasing the difficulty over time. The speaker uses this concept to explain how to rebuild routines effectively after a period of being overwhelmed.

💡Priorities

In the context of the video, 'priorities' refer to the tasks or activities that are most important to an individual. The speaker emphasizes the importance of defining one's priorities in order to effectively manage time and energy, and to prevent being overwhelmed by less important opportunities.

💡Discovery

'Discovery' in the video represents the joy of learning new things and acquiring new skills. The speaker values the process of discovery as a priority and contrasts it with the potential stress of neglecting personal interests for business opportunities.

💡Habit tracker

A 'habit tracker' is a tool or system used to monitor the consistency and progress of habits one is trying to establish or maintain. The speaker mentions using an app called Strides as a habit tracker to help rebuild their morning routine and maintain consistency.

💡Saying 'No'

In the video, 'saying 'No'' is presented as a necessary skill for managing one's workload and maintaining a healthy balance between work and personal life. The speaker discusses the difficulty but importance of turning down opportunities that do not align with one's defined priorities.

💡CuriosityStream

CuriosityStream is a subscription-based streaming service offering a wide range of documentaries. The speaker mentions it as a platform for maintaining the joy of discovery by watching documentaries, suggesting it as a way to learn something new and maintain personal growth.

Highlights

The speaker has been feeling overwhelmed for the past five or six months due to taking on too many tasks.

Being a self-employed entrepreneur means having no one to enforce deadlines, leading to overcommitment.

The speaker has been working on a plan to bring balance back into life by initiating a 'reset sprint'.

A reset sprint involves reorganizing life and systems that have decayed due to entropy and multiple ongoing projects.

Matt D'Avella's video on burnout emphasizes the importance of not always sprinting and maintaining balance.

The concept of 'success spirals' from 'The Motivation Hacker' by Nick Winter is introduced for building new habits.

The speaker suggests starting with a simple morning routine and gradually adding more activities as consistency is proven.

Reestablishing daily routines is crucial for grounding oneself and improving work efficiency.

The third step of the plan is to define priorities and learn to say 'No' to opportunities that do not align with them.

The speaker struggles with prioritizing business opportunities over personal growth and discovery.

A printed list of current priorities helps the speaker stay focused on what's truly important.

The importance of maintaining the joy of discovery and learning new things is emphasized.

CuriosityStream is recommended as a platform for accessing a wide range of documentaries to fuel the joy of discovery.

A special offer for 30 days of free access to CuriosityStream is provided for viewers interested in the service.

The speaker thanks CuriosityStream for sponsoring the episode and supporting the channel.

A call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and follow the speaker on Instagram for more content.

Transcripts

For the past five or six months, I have spent the majority of my time feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

Pretty much every single day, I wake up, and I feel like there's just too much to do, too

much on my plate, and not enough time to get it all done.

This is a situation that I really can only blame myself for.

For about the past six years, I've been a self-employed entrepreneur, which means there's

no boss breathing down my neck.

There's nobody specifically telling me that I have to get things done because they want

me to do them.

It's really just me taking on more than I can handle.

I'm still kind of in this situation, but for the past few weeks, I've been taking some

steps to rectify it, to actually fix the situation, bring back some balance into my life.

Really, what this video is going to be is me sharing the plan that I've outlined for

myself, because I know that I'm not the only person dealing with this.

I get a lot of emails, a lot of tweets, a lot of DMs on Instagram from people who feel

overwhelmed in their own lives as well.

Like I said before, a few weeks ago I sat down, I opened an Evernote document, and I

started creating a plan for bringing back some balance into my life, and the first step

to that plan was doing something that I'm going to call a reset sprint.

Now, somewhat coincidentally, my friend Matt D'Avella just released a video on his channel

a few days ago about burnout.

In that video, he talked about the reason for why so many people end up burning out.

The reason is that they keep sprinting.

When you're an ambitious person, when you're an entrepreneur trying to build a business,

or you're a student trying to get ahead, or you have a lot on your plate, or you're just

a professional who has a lot of things going on, you often take on sprints where you make

sacrifices, you don't get to the gym as often as you should, or you're making really quick

not-so-healthy meals.

You're not sleeping as much as you should, and you have to make those sacrifices to get

ahead.

Sometimes extraordinary action was required for extraordinary results, but the problem

is, once you get those extraordinary results, there are still more opportunities.

In fact, once you become successful, there are more and more and more opportunities,

and it's very tempting to take those on.

The situation that a lot of people find themselves in is, they keep taking these opportunities,

and the sprints never end, which leads to burnout and eventually leads to this feeling

of being overwhelmed.

The key to not burning out is to make sure you're not always sprinting.

Do sprints sometimes, but then eventually back off from that and actually bring some

balance back into your life.

This is one thing that I'm definitely trying to do, but I did realize that if I wanted

to really bring balance back into my life, there was one last sprint that I needed to

do right now, and it was a reset sprint.

I needed to put some time into reorganizing my life, because over the past several months,

I've had so many different projects going on that a lot of my organizational systems

kind of decayed.

A lot of that entropy that I like to talk about seeped into them, so the first part

of my plan has been reorganizing things, doing a little bit of a sprint to reorganize my

to-do system, to reorganize my Evernote.

Because I just moved to a new house, it's also a good time to evaluate what I own, see

what I need to reorganize physically or get rid of, or donate, or just otherwise give

away.

Step number one, if you are constantly overwhelmed, then carve out some time to do one of these

reset sprints.

Evaluate all of your systems, your file organization system, your physical living space and your

workspace, your task manager, all these things, and take some time to get them back into a

state where they reflect reality and they are actually useful to you.

All right, so after the reset sprint is done, step two of the plan is to reestablish your

routine.

This was really big for me.

Because I was so overwhelmed, because I constantly felt like I had to get things done, I had

so much on my plate, I kind of let my routine fall by the wayside.

I would wake up each and every morning and think, "I have to get to work immediately.

Otherwise, I'm going to run out of hours in the day."

The ironic part is, this attitude of thinking I need to work all the time actually made

me less effective.

I know I wasn't using every single one of my hours as effectively as I possibly could,

so letting my routine go to the wayside was really, it didn't gain me anything at all,

so I have made a commitment to myself to rebuild my morning routines, rebuild my daily routines,

and I know that even if I have a lot to do, that one to two-hour window in the morning

when I should be doing my habits is kind of off-limits.

Now, one thing that I want to bring up about doing this is that if you're going to reestablish

a morning routine that used to be quite complicated, if you have a lot of habits that you were

juggling, and then they all sort of fell by the wayside because you got overwhelmed, it's

probably not a good idea to try to pick up all of them at the same time again.

There is a concept from one of my favorite books, The Motivation Hacker by Nick Winter,

called success spirals.

He often talks about how when you're building new habits, you have to start small, and eventually,

you prove to yourself that you can remain consistent on a small number of habits or

something that's kind of a small commitment.

Over time, you add more and more difficulty.

You maybe take on more habits, or you add more difficulty to habits that are already

in your routine, and you kind of spiral up, but crucially, if, for some reason, you fall

off the horse, you're probably not going to be able to climb back on it at the exact same

level you were.

You have to go back to the beginning of the spiral and start easy again.

Now, some people may be able to climb right back up and do exactly what they were doing

before, and that's great, but if you try it and it doesn't work, then go back to basics.

Establish a really simple morning routine or really simple set of habits.

Prove to yourself that you can do those going forward, and then slowly work your way up

from there.

In my case, that meant, number one, getting on a habit tracker once more, and I'm personally

using an app called Strides for this, but number two, establishing a morning routine

that was really simple at first.

It was just waking up early, drinking a glass of water, taking care of my plants, and doing

some pushups.

That was it.

I wasn't reading.

I wasn't writing.

I wasn't doing instrument practice.

These are things that I want to bring back into my routine, but I knew when I was starting

if I wanted to remain consistent, it had to be simple.

Of course, now that I've been doing those things for a few weeks and I've actually proved

to myself that I can do them consistently, I've started to add some more things into

the routine, and so now I'm waking up, and I'm also reading for 25 minutes.

I'm making sure to write for 10 minutes, and I'm also practicing piano every single day.

In summary, step two, reestablish your routines, and I think that even if you're spending time

on your routines, remember that when you have these routines, you're a little bit more grounded.

There's more structure in your life, and I think you're going to be able to be more efficient

with your normal working hours when you have that structure.

That brings us to my third step of the plan, which I think, for me, is actually the hardest

one.

It's to define your priorities and learn to say, "No," more often.

One of the things that I really struggle with is that as my businesses become more successful,

as the audience has grown, the opportunities have increased as well, and every time there's

an opportunity, there's this little voice in my brain saying, "You should go for that.

There's no reason not to go for that.

You'd be leaving money on the table, or you'd be not helping as many people as you could

if you left that opportunity on the table," but I also realize that one of my big priorities

in life is the process of discovery, learning new things, of being able to pick up new skills.

For example, like I said, I'm practicing piano every single day.

This is something that's pretty recent in my life.

Even though I'm basically a complete newb at it, it is a lot of fun, and I've noticed

that every single time I sit down to the piano and practice, there is a breakthrough.

Like just the other day, I figured out how to play a three-two polyrhythm on the piano.

If you're somebody who's been playing the piano for quite a while, then that probably

seems pretty trivial to you, but for me, it was something that my brain just could not

do for like the first hour while I tried to do it, and when I finally figured it out,

when I finally realized that one hand was doing one-two one-two and the other hand was

doing one-two-three one-two-three one-two-three at the same time, it was amazing.

That feeling of discovery is something that I crave.

One of the problems is that with all the opportunities that come up in my business, there's like

this voice in the back of my head that's kind of telling me, "Any time you spend on things

you're not already good at, on things you're not already established at, like playing the

piano, is wasted time, because you could be using that time to make another video.

You could be using that time to improve your website, to train your employees, all this

kind of stuff.

Why would you be using it on something that you're not established in?

Your business is a force multiplier, and you're not using it.

Plus, there's zillion other people out there who are already way better at piano than you'll

ever be.

Why would you do that?"

This voice is toxic, and I realize that if I continually listen to it, if I continually

put all my time into my business just because I feel that the force multiplier is there,

just because I feel like there's more opportunity there, I'm going to burn out.

I'm going to feel overwhelmed, because the desire for discovery is not going to go away.

It's just going to be kind of stifled, but it's still going to be there, and it's still

going to cause me stress.

Step three of the plan is to say, "No," to more opportunities in my business, even if

they are lucrative, even if it seems like I would be a fool to leave them on the table.

I have to learn to say no, because I need to have priorities, and one of those priorities

is the joy of discovery, so I've actually printed out a list of my current priorities,

and I've put it on the wall right there, and it says, "Practice piano.

Get back to a weekly schedule on the YouTube channel.

Make sure I'm doing the things that are actually important to me, and say, 'No,' to anything

that is going to block those."

Hopefully, this is helpful in some way to you, and just to summarize really quick here,

step one, do a reset sprint.

Get your systems back in order, be they physical or digital.

Take some time to really do this correctly.

Step two, reestablish your habits and routines.

Don't give in to the temptation to let those things fall to the wayside because you feel

like you don't have enough hours to do your work.

Have work hours, and have hours for your routines.

Then finally, step three, define your priorities going forward, and then learn to say, "No,"

more often.

It's really difficult, but it's worth it, and if I might make a suggestion, one of those

priorities should be, as my shirt says, to never stop learning, to maintain that constant

joy of discovery.

This is something that's really important to me and that I'm really trying to make more

of a priority in my life.

If you aren't doing this already, then try to learn something new every single day or

at least every week.

If you're like me, maybe start playing the piano, or pick up a new book, or possibly

start watching a documentary on a service like CuriosityStream.

CuriosityStream is an extensive and constantly updated collected of exclusive and high-quality

documentaries that was actually created by John Hendricks, who is the founder of the

Discovery Channel, which was my absolute favorite TV channel when I was a kid.

Now, unlike normal TV channels, with CuriosityStream you can access those documentaries on all

of your devices whenever you want.

They're in your web browser.

They're on iOS and Android.

They're on Roku and on many other platforms as well.

Once you start digging into their library, you're going to find tons of different documentaries

and topics ranging from science, to technology, to nature and lots, lots more.

If you're looking for a recommendation of where to start, a documentary that I really

enjoyed recently was called Order And Disorder, specifically the episode on the story of information,

which traces the development of how we communicate with each other.

Membership on CuriosityStream is really affordable at just $2.99 per month, and if you go over

to curiositystream.com/thomas and sign up, you're going to get 30 days of completely

unlimited free access, so it's a great way to try out the service.

A big thanks goes out to CuriosityStream for sponsoring this episode and being a big supporter

of my channel, and as always, thank you guys so much for watching.

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