It's easy to become overwhelmed as an entrepreneur, but there's always an opportunity to relieve yourself.
Entrepreneurship comes with a diversity of different demands, from human resource management, to sales, to daily minutiae. Even the most skilled time managers and most disciplined business leaders often helplessly watch their to-do lists pile up over time, to the point where it almost seems like too much.
At this point, even a small challenge or new to-do item can see far more burdensome than it actually is. Everything is magnified, and it seems like you'll never catch up. When you reach this point, take these five steps to return to a state of normalcy:
1.Take a walk. First, walk away from the problem. This may seem counterintuitive, but it's important to give your mind time to decompress and catch up. Plus, if you take a literal walk, you'll earn the benefits of exercise getting more oxygen to your brain.
2.Shut off your communication. Texts, emails, and phone calls will pull you in a number of different directions, and constantly, but only if you allow it. Shut down your communication channels if you need time to focus; everything else can wait.
3.Organize and reset. Take the time to reorganize yourself. Make a list of things you have to do, and prioritize them according to importance and urgency. Then, start tackling the list with a fresh mind.
4.Delegate. You have partners and employees for a reason. If your workload is starting to become too much, delegate tasks to your employees.
5.Compartmentalize. Don't think about everything you have to do. Instead, focus on one thing at a time. It's much harder to feel overwhelmed this way.
There's no way to stop the endless stream of tasks coming in, but you can change the way you think about them and manage them. The more experience you have in this position, the easier it's going to get.
Bio:
Jose Vasquez is a serial entrepreneur and tech enthusiast dedicated to helping startup technology companies get the direction and momentum they need to succeed. As the founder of Build. Brand. Blast., Jose has established a collective resource for tech entrepreneurs to consult when brainstorming, creating, launching, or expanding a new business. Jose is also the founder and CEO of Quez Media Marketing, a marketing firm that combines technology and creativity to help new and growing companies get the results they need.