Decision Overload? The overwhelming side to running a business.
Managing your own business will present you with a lot of decision making. This is especially so in the first couple of years, and it is these early decisions that shape how efficiently your business runs. My go-to advice for my clients starting their own business is to set up from Day One how you intend to carry on (where possible and practical, of course), with some thought-out next stages locked in right away.
Next, you’ll likely get to the stage where the search engines have figured out that you are out there, and all of a sudden, it’s all go: you may get inundated by sales reps, emails from people applying for jobs that you haven’t even thought about advertising for, etc etc… Then, there are the general decisions and questions you already need to deal with on an ordinary day to day basis: staff wanting time off or needing advice on how to do something, something essential breaks and needs urgent fixing or replacement, you’ve reached a new milestone in your business growth and you have to hire more staff or change what you are doing - the list goes on.
Not all of this is negative of course, but it adds to your mental load nonetheless: You get to the point of question overload. This is when you will find it helpful to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help navigate through your to-do list - without screaming at the wrong person! It’s often when we feel overwhelmed that we are likely to unnecessarily lash out at the next person who walks through the door.
Opportunities and growth can be tricky when you are already operating at capacity: on the one hand you don’t want to miss out on a good opportunity simply because you don’t have the mental capacity to take anything else in at that moment. On the other hand, there is a lot to be gained from the ability to firmly say, “no more, this is my limit”, and not questioning that decision.
Here are a few of my go to’s for when things get overwhelming:
If it’s a phone call, quickly decide if you have time to talk at that moment or not, and rebook if you need to: “I’m going to stop you there, I would love to hear more but I need you to call back in this many hours/days/ weeks.” Always give yourself a bit more time than you think. Having a good buffer will do wonders for your stress levels.
Know yourself: find ways to notice when you are in “that” zone, and make note to remind yourself to hold off on these seemingly pressing decisions until you have worked through what the real issue is. If no life is at risk, the decision can wait.
I can’t emphasise enough the importance of taking time to plan out what needs to be done - this might happen once a week, once a day, or even multiple times a day depending on the volume and size of the work and tasks. When you're busy it is very easy to continue working on the tasks that present and not plan out all the things you need to do so you can better prioritise what needs to happen now versus what can wait.
What is the real issue? Do you need more staff? Do you need to structure time off? Deal with that big question or task first. Once that is out of the way, you will be able to deal with the other, often seemingly relentless, decisions and questions a lot more easily.
Take time out. Turn your phone off. Get outside for some fresh air. It’s amazing what that can do.
Talk to someone who can help you make sense of your decision making dilemmas! Sometimes it's not a matter of whether or not you know best or what you are doing, it’s a matter of hashing out what is the priority. Having a clear focused sounding board, and someone to talk to whom you trust, and who gets your ‘it’, can help you find your feet again much quicker.
I have been reading Atomic Habits by James Clear, and highly recommend it. One thing the author mentions in the book that I find really helpful is the suggestion to make all areas of the home single- use (this is especially helpful right now where so many of us work remotely from home). For example, don’t do your work on the couch, as you may then associate this place with working rather than relaxing and in turn find it hard to wind down in your non-working hours.
Take time off your phone as it is so easy to get distracted when we do multiple things, both work-related and personal, on the one advice. You know, you jump on to text a friend for coffee, and then you might as well check your emails because it’s so easy to do. Having a clear schedule for when I check and manage my inbox, really helps me to stick to my priorities and maintain a clear head when things get busy.
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Lisa-Jean Foote
October 2020