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Feeling Overwhelmed? An Effective Way Forward with Carly Taylor · Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor

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  Speaker 1: Everyone, it's Cauli here for this week's Mojo Monday. So
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  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the feeling of overwhelmed today.
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  Speaker 1: When we're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things that
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  Speaker 1: we need doing, or by a situation which evokes a
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  Speaker 1: lot of emotions, it's so easy to start to spiral
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  Speaker 1: into a panic. We know that our emotions are incredibly powerful,
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  Speaker 1: and when they show up, we tend to get very
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  Speaker 1: caught up in them, which means that we can become
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  Speaker 1: ineffective in what we're doing. And for a lot of people,
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  Speaker 1: this feeling of overwhelm can lead to freeze mode, so
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  Speaker 1: you end up doing nothing that's on your list, and
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  Speaker 1: you can end up scrolling aimlessly to avoid that feeling
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  Speaker 1: of overwhelmed or whatever your avoidant strategy is. And we
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  Speaker 1: know those things yeah, okay, they tend to work in
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  Speaker 1: the very short term, but they don't work in the
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  Speaker 1: long term or actually doing things but not as well
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  Speaker 1: as you could because your nervous system is really overloaded.
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  Speaker 1: So the first place that I'm going to suggest that
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  Speaker 1: you start with is noticing your language. So what you
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  Speaker 1: say to yourself can act like a primer for your brain.
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  Speaker 1: If they're in a dialogue sounds like, oh my god,
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  Speaker 1: I've got so much to do. This is hard. I'm
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  Speaker 1: just feeling completely overwhelmed. It's like, where do I start.
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  Speaker 1: Your nervous system is going to sense threat, and when
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  Speaker 1: it senses threat, it does its job. It creates a
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  Speaker 1: stress response, and that's what it's there for. But in
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  Speaker 1: this case, it's not helpful for getting through our to
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  Speaker 1: do list. So what I find really helps is a reframe.
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  Speaker 1: And this is one that I use a lot when
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  Speaker 1: I'm feeling overwhelmed. So I acknowledge the feeling of overwhelmed.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm feeling overwhelmed right now, So it's there, what
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  Speaker 1: do I need right now? And almost always the answer
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  Speaker 1: is actually structure. So structure reduces that cognitive load. It
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  Speaker 1: gives your brain fewer decisions to make. So I do
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  Speaker 1: a full brain dump of my to do's. I put
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  Speaker 1: everything down there. I put the stuff I need to
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  Speaker 1: do for work, for my personal life. I put it
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  Speaker 1: all down just into I put it in two columns,
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  Speaker 1: and then I decide what actually needs to be done
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  Speaker 1: today and what can wait until tomorrow or another later day.
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  Speaker 1: And then I time block those tasks into my calendar,
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  Speaker 1: so I'm not keeping them in my head, which is
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  Speaker 1: very needed for me because my memory is shocking as
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  Speaker 1: I have gone through metapause and so I really need
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  Speaker 1: to write everything down. But anyway, that's a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a digression. So the next thing to do is when
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  Speaker 1: I start attach, I set a timer for twenty five
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  Speaker 1: minutes and I focus on one thing only, so just
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  Speaker 1: that task, So I turn all notifications off on my mobile.
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  Speaker 1: And seriously, if you think about this, you think about
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  Speaker 1: turning your notifications off because this can be challenging for
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people. You and others will be okay
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  Speaker 1: if you're not contactable for a short period of time.
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  Speaker 1: And I was thinking about this, it's like, why do
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  Speaker 1: we allow ourselves to be distracted when we have important
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  Speaker 1: tasks to complete. If it's about your kids, you put
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  Speaker 1: them on the emergency setting so they can get through
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  Speaker 1: to you, but let them know that you're having some
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  Speaker 1: focus time. But everyone else can wait. So I really
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  Speaker 1: suggest that you try that. And then when the timer
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  Speaker 1: goes off after the twenty five minutes, I stand up
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  Speaker 1: and I move. So this might be a short walk,
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  Speaker 1: a stretch, a few squats, stepping outside, looking up at
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  Speaker 1: the sky, having just a mindful moment, taking a few slow,
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  Speaker 1: deep breaths, and this is my reset. This is filling
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  Speaker 1: my energy bucket. If I'm feeling low in energy and
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  Speaker 1: I have stuff to do, I have to be proactive
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  Speaker 1: in refueling it so I can then get back to
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  Speaker 1: the tasks. So this process of time blocking is called
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  Speaker 1: the Pomodoro technique, which many of you would have heard,
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  Speaker 1: and it's really effective for overwhelmed, for focus, for energy,
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  Speaker 1: and of course productivity, and there's really good research behind
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  Speaker 1: this approach. So sitting for long, uninterrupted periods is linked
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  Speaker 1: to reduce cognitive performance, poorer mood, and low energy, and
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  Speaker 1: even brief movement breaks improve attension, working memory, and emotional regulation.
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  Speaker 1: And regular movement increases our blood flow to the brain
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  Speaker 1: and helps regulate our stress hormones. Movement isn't a distraction
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  Speaker 1: from productivity, it actually supports it. And when your mind says, oh,
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  Speaker 1: I don't have time to stop and move, I'm deep
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  Speaker 1: in work here, that's often when movement matters the most.
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  Speaker 1: And this is especially for those people who are hyper focused.
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  Speaker 1: So you might get a lot done sitting for hours,
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  Speaker 1: but your nervous system and energy can really take a hit,
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  Speaker 1: and over time that catches up and it can lead
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  Speaker 1: to burnout. So next, I just want to talk about
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  Speaker 1: overwhelm as not a thinking problem, and this really matters.
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  Speaker 1: Overwhelm isn't solved by more thinking. It's resolved through action,
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  Speaker 1: through doing small, purposeful actions while letting that feeling be there.
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  Speaker 1: So you don't need to feel calm to start. You
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  Speaker 1: don't need to feel motivated first to start. That will
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  Speaker 1: come from starting. You just need to start. So if
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  Speaker 1: you're overwhelmed today, try this, Name what you're feeling, create
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  Speaker 1: a structure, do one short block of focus work using
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  Speaker 1: the Pomodoro technique, take movement snacks in the short break,
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  Speaker 1: and then repeat and that's often enough to shift that
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  Speaker 1: whole state from feeling overwhelmed to feeling more in control
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  Speaker 1: and to be constructive and productive. So it's not about
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  Speaker 1: fighting these overwhelmed emotions, it's by working effectively alongside them.
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  Speaker 1: So experience. Just experiment with these approaches and see what
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  Speaker 1: works for you, and good luck. Have a great week everyone.
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  Speaker 1: I'll see you next week. By