Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed or unmotivated .. this might help

Are you feeling stuck? Not sure about a decision? Chances are you are overthinking it - whatever 'it' is.

A quick brainstorm exercise might help. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. Write the question or decision that needs to be made. Then free-flow all your thoughts on the paper. Answer questions like,

• "What if I don't do this project?"
• "What if I sleep on this decision?"
• "What is one thing that I can break down in to the smallest possible task?"
• "Why do I want to do this?" - whatever this is for you. 

 Are you overwhelmed? I can understand that feeling, I have a few tips here too, as this is not unheard of if you are a person and not independently wealthy.

Stop. Pause. Breathe. Think - What is keeping me awake? What/who is screaming at you? 

Are any of these things so important that you must do them first? Will the earth shatter if you don't do some of the things until tomorrow? Write down what you discover. Act on one thing. Even if that is an email/text to push off the task/project.

In general life is too overwhelming? Stop. Pause. and send out a notice, that you need 3-5 days to rest/recover/reboot. Then tend to your family and self. You must be ok first. 

• If you can - Cut the people out of your life who don't give you space and grace. Toxic productivity is not worth your life. 
• If you can't - minimize your interactions with them, give/ask for timelines if you have no choice but to work with them. If the time lines don't work for you - say so. 

If all else fails - hide from all the people (and devices) and write down top 3-5 things you MUST do and dig until you figure out the very next small step you need to do to move forward. Try to take at least 10 minutes for yourself and remind yourself how you overcame a situation similar to this in the past.

Are you unmotivated?  This too I can understand! After reflection I tend to find I am unmotivated for a few reasons see if any resonate with you?

• I am exhausted - having not taken the right kind of time for myself. I maybe didn't sleep or eat well in the past few days. I am fighting an unknown illness....literally most everyone right now. I over did things in the recent past.
• I am not clear on what I am suppose to do - the thing is too 'big' to do in the time I have - today. Usually, I can find a small task I could do to move the thing forward...but that means I already have broken the project/task down. and if I am not wanting to do that to break it down in to small task... it begs a question if I should do this thing at all. Certainly it means I might need to consider that option.
• I don't have a strong enough 'Why" behind what I am suppose to be doing.  You can read a whole book on that lol. Start with Why. But really long before there was a book, everyone still had a why - a reason - they need to do the work they are doing. Reconnect with that. 

Still unmotivated, go and do something else. Maybe a small win some where else will give you motivation to break down your project, or add to your website, or create a social media post... whatever it is you are unmotivated to do. 

If you find your motivation, your overwhelm, your 'stickiness' to last more than a few days - consider working with a coach, therapist, or a business group.