I recently had an ah-ha moment when heard these words, “Inner chaos creates outer chaos,” and did the exercise below from a video by the amazing Marie Forleo. Top insight I learned? As Marie states “If we can’t clear the clutter from within how can we expect to see positive and lucrative results in our lives and businesses?” I felt that this lesson was something all Ms. In The Biz readers should hear so I’ve broken Marie’s video down for you all!
Marie Forleo’s 3 Easy Steps to Overcoming Overwhelm … so you can clear the way to get down to business.
(As seen in her video: How To Deal With Overwhelm: Free Video Workshop )
Step 1: “Grab a pen and a paper and for a full solid 10 minutes” (turn off the TV, turn off the phone, turn off the computer) “write down all of the things, projects, and “to-dos” that clutter your mind. What you go to bed worrying about, what you wake up thinking about, what you’ve been meaning to do forever.”
Marie’s Tip: “Do not edit your self or overthink it. This should be a mental dump” and stream of consciousness of all of the things on your mind.
Step 2: “Put a big red line through everything that is not within your control. For example, booking a co-star role on a television show is not within your control, but what is in your control is being prepared for your auditions, honing your craft, taking care of your body, sending out your marketing materials, going to networking events, meditating, etc. So remove things that are not within your control (it’s ok to have them as goals) but put your energy toward the steps that are within your control.”
Remember: “Realizing that we control the pursuit and not the outcome can empower us, remove stress, and alleviate overwhelm when we focus on what’s in our control rather than what is outside of it.”
Step 3: “Remove the ‘meh’”
Once you have the list of the things that are within your control, “remove anything that you aren’t truly passionate about, has been on your list forever but you don’t feel compelled to do, doesn’t bring you joy or closer to your ultimate goals, or are things people have told you that should be doing but don’t really want to do.”
Voilà! Now thanks to Marie Forleo “you have a short list of hopefully manageable and enjoyable tasks” that will take you closer to your fulfilling your dreams and goals while building your empire.