How to Stop Your Overwhelm with the 5 Ps
When was the last time you felt completely overwhelmed?
You know that crushing overwhelm paralysis. It’s like the walls are closing in, your to-do list is mocking you, and no matter how hard you try, you know you can’t keep this up anymore.
Maybe it was yesterday.
Maybe it’s right now.
Overwhelm can leave you stressed and panicked, ready to crawl under a blanket and hide from the world, or cancel all weekend plans in a final attempt to tackle your crushing workload.
You might think, “If only I were better at managing my time, I wouldn’t feel like this.”
But here’s the truth: overwhelm isn’t a failure of time management.
Why Your Overwhelm Is Normal
Your Excessive Workload
Being good at time management doesn’t mean you’ll magically have a smaller workload. The workload will still be there, you’ll just have some better tools to deal with it.
But when you’re looking at the giant list of projects with competing deadlines and that red dot of 20 unread IMs, an overwhelmed response is completely natural. It’s your brain signaling that it’s probably time to reassess and refocus your efforts.
Working Harder Isn’t Helping
The natural response to overwhelm is to try to work harder and faster. If you could just get everything done, the overwhelm would go away.
But overwhelm is a state of unfocus. Your brain is obsessing about all the things, not just a single thing, so any action you try to take will likely be disjointed and won’t get you any closer to getting any one thing done. Which leaves you even more overwhelmed…
You’re Making it Mean You’re Doing a Bad Job
Everyone experiences overwhelm at some point, regardless of their strength or capabilities. It’s a common response to unrealistic expectations or to the cold hard facts that you can’t do it all.
Welcome to common human emotions. Everything is going just as planned. Don’t judge yourself based on the initial emotional response of overwhelm. It’s how you handle the overwhelm when it strikes that shows your true strengths.
While the feeling of overwhelm is completely normal and not an indication you’re not managing your life well, it’s still…annoying as hell.
So, let’s add another tool to your time management toolbox to help rid yourself of that overwhelm instantly!
Say hello to the 5 Ps.
The 5 Ps: How to Stop Overwhelm Immediately
The next time you’re feeling that crushing feeling of overwhelm leaving you paralyzed and questioning everything… Follow the 5 Ps to stop it in its tracks.
Start at P #1 and keep working your way down until you feel a little bit of relief. Some days, you may not need to run through all 5 Ps. Other days, you’ll need to break out all the stops.
P #1: Pause
Pause and take a deep breath.
It’s easy to get stuck in our thoughts and let the overwhelm spiral out of control. So as soon as you recognize the warning signs coming on, acknowledge it’s just a bit overwhelm. Just an emotion. Just a sensation you’re feeling in your body.
Take a pause. Let it be a sign you might need to reassess. And move to P #2.
P #2: Pen to Paper
Grab a piece of paper and make a bulleted list of everything that’s causing you to feel overwhelmed.
The goal of writing it down is twofold.
First, getting it all out of your head helps you focus. You don’t have to be overwhelmed that you’re forgetting about something because you’ll have the full list of tasks you need to plan for.
Second, the act of physically writing something down helps you reconnect to your body. It can help you separate yourself from the thoughts sending you into an overwhelm spiral so you can feel safe and in charge again.
Any scrap of paper will do for this. It’s simply a temporary storage space you can crumple up and throw away shortly.
P #3: Prioritize
Now that you have the list of things causing your overwhelm, get real about what actually has to get done. Time to prioritize.
Ask yourself, what is the main goal you’re trying to accomplish?
For example: If you’re trying to wrap up the executive summary for a proposal that’s due in two hours, calling the vet to make an appointment for your dog doesn’t need any of your brain power right now.
Focus on the must-dos that support your immediate goal. The rest is just noise.
P #4: Plan
It’s time to make a plan.
Pick the “most important” items from your list and schedule time on your calendar to work on them. Now you know that they’ll get done and when.
This act of planning helps you prioritize even further. I.e. if it doesn’t fit on your calendar it’s just not gonna happen. No need to argue with reality. To make room, you can bump something else off your calendar that now might be less important to you or you can accept it just won’t get done.
When your mind is focused on problem-solving and planning, it’s a quick anecdote to overwhelm. Overwhelm is caused by the confusion and inability to act. Making a plan is taking a tangible step toward clarity.
P #5: Point of View
Finally, change your point of view. Try some new thoughts.
The feeling of overwhelm is not being caused by your heavy workload or the unexpected “urgent” request you just got from a client. It’s caused by how you’re thinking about those circumstances.
Your thoughts are likely stuck on: “I won’t have enough time” or “I’ll never get this done” or “This is all going to crash and burn and I’ll lose everything and wind up alone and living out of my car.”
Brains can be dramatic…
So change your point of view of the situation. Practice a new thought, one you can find just a small amount of belief in. Here are a few that have helped me:
“I have the time I need to get things done.”
“I’ve always gotten it done before, I will this time as well.”
“I am capable of making a plan and getting things done.”
“Whatever I get done is enough.”
“It’s just not going to happen today and that’s okay.”
The bonus of P #5, is that when you get good at changing your point of view, you can actually reduce the number of overwhelm occurrences in the first place. You’ll be rewiring your brain to think differently which will change how you react to the world around you.
So What?
Overwhelm is a normal part of life. But, it doesn’t have to run your life.
Use the 5 Ps to break the cycle, stop your overwhelm instantly, and find some peace.
Need a little reminder on how it all works? Grab the 5 Ps Cheat Sheet so you’ll know exactly what to do the next time overwhelm strikes!
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About Me
Hi, I’m Kara. I’m a former workaholic turned time-management expert. I help women stressed out in their 9-5 get more done, in less time, so they can get back in the driver’s seat and start living a life they love.
