PP 223: Overwhelmed & Burnt Out? Doing This Will Help
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How to Know When You’re Doing Too Much
I’ve learned over the years that my No.1 culprit for anxiety, stress, and burnout is...
DOING TOO MUCH.
For years, I've always felt like I had to do ALL the things ALL the time.
This stemmed from feeling like I got a late start, and/or I wasn’t doing enough compared to everyone I looked up to.
(I’d bet a full bitcoin that you relate to this too.)
In my first few years of turning this hobby into a side hustle, I said yes to everything…
It was helpful in terms of:
Giving me a lot of experience quickly.
Catching a pulse on what I liked/didn’t like.
Understanding what was/wasn’t working.
By saying yes to everything, I saw quick growth early on...
But then it led to some seriously defeating plateaus.
I’d find myself continually stuck trying to unlock the next level.
I want to share today how I’ve been able to constantly get myself “unstuck” over the years.
It’s all about my daily mindset and motto that’s helped me explode my once-hobby and side hustle into a full-time dream job.
The goal of this episode is to show you how to reduce the overwhelm and increase your focus, so you can experience more results.
Two Harassing Hoodlums
Most of my “stuckness” in the past (and present) has been the result of these two harassing hoodlums...
1. Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS)
SOS means being interested and distracted by anything new that positions itself as an opportunity.
When you can’t seem to focus, execute, or gain any traction—maybe it’s because you have your hands involved in too many things?
You’re living in a world of split focus and trying to divide your attention and efforts into too many buckets of interests.
For me, shiny object syndrome always had me chasing "okay" opportunities.
Then I’d regret my finite time being held hostage once a Hell Yes opportunity came along.
2. Superman Syndrome (SS)
SS is the feeling you have to do it all, all the time. This eventually becomes your kryptonite and prohibits explosive growth in an intentional direction.
You pile your plate high because you tell yourself, “I thrive in chaos and love the pressure.”
You glorify being busy over being productive.
You feed yourself the excuse that “I’m too busy to accomplish the results I really want.”
In reality, what you’re saying is that what you truly want isn’t a priority.
You find yourself stretched too thin and spinning your wheels seeing minimal results.
I’ve personally dealt with both SOS and SS…
I found that either or both often lead to:
Taking zero action due to decision-making paralysis analysis.
Burning out because you exhaust your energy by doing too much.
Together, they create a poisonous cocktail that distracts me from focusing on the tasks that give me the most juice from my squeeze.
Things got so bad in years past where the creative slumps had me questioning if I should give up this creative quest.
Thankfully, a little book fell into my lap and changed the trajectory of my creative grind.
Do Less, But Better
I want to say back in 2016 is when I first found and read the Book Essentialism by George McKeown.
He dropped one simple phrase that hit me like a ton of bricks: “Do less, but better.”
(Another powerful book relating to this topic is: The One Thing by Gary Kelly.)
I decided I was tired of making minimum progress in a million directions…
I was tired of burning the candle at both ends and burning myself out.
I’ve now adopted this as my personal motto, and its been my ongoing New Year’s Habit since 2017 (not a fan of flaky resolutions).
Each year, I focus on doing less but better in my creative biz—and each year, the results/profits speak for themselves.
I’ve since continued to trim the fat by delegating, eliminating, or pushing things to the back burner that don’t serve my best interests or the bigger picture.
Instead of:
Saying yes to everything, I implement a Hell Yes and Hell No Filter.
Trying to cater to everyone, I focus on connecting with the RIGHT people for who my work is perfect for.
Spreading myself too thin, I focus on three areas of focus per season within my business.
Three Areas of Focus
Lemme break down how I operate these three areas of focus as some hold a higher rank in terms of percentages of my time and energy.
For example, as I record this in July 2021, my three areas of focus are:
1. Coaching - 50%
Coaching will always be a high priority as it generates easily 80% of my gross income.
At this moment, I’m running a 1-Mo. Summer Coaching Program, having weekly 1:1 student calls, and having weekly prospect calls for those interested in the Fall 2021 Side Hustler’s 12-Week Program.
(P.S. Join the A-List Waitlist over at SideHustlersCoaching.com)
2. Podcast - 30%
This is an ongoing priority, but it’s definitely a bigger focus during this season as I approach my 5 year anniversary in August 2021.
I’ve spent this summer upgrading equipment, building a massive queue of episodes, and delegating more things to the team to free up my time.
3. Rebrand/Content Strategy - 20%
Whatever remaining bandwidth I have goes into the rebrand refresh of both my “personal brand” of Coach Scotty Russell and upcoming big changes to the podcast (stay tuned).
Figuring it Out Day-By-Day
Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from mastering this philosophy, and I’m figuring it out day-by-day.
(Superman Syndrome is still a massive weakness of mine.)
I am often overwhelmed and stressed out…
Which leads my Spider-Sense tingling that I need to:
Pump the brakes and breathe.
Simplify the game.
Get shit off my plate one task at a time.
Doing less, but better is a never-ending, always evolving process.
It’ll always be that way because we’re always growing, evolving, and becoming more self-aware of our triggers and breaking points.
The key is to get better at noticing the resistance and then DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
If you’re in the early phases of finding your groove, it’s okay to say yes to a lot of things.
I think it’s important to overwhelm yourself to get firsthand experience of how to operate your time, energy, and focus.
You gotta learn how to patiently play out the process of the slow-and-steady grind.
I’m just here to remind you that you don't have to do ALL the things.
Do less, but Better.
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