“Ugh. I'm feeling like crap. I'm so overwhelmed, and every time I try to do something, I just feel discouraged and just like, ugh, I can't do it.”
If you're feeling like this at any point in time, particularly when it comes to starting your side hustle, stay tuned. In this post, I'm going to show you how you can turn inaction into action with a few simple steps.
So you're feeling overwhelmed, stressed. Every time you try to take a step forward, you feel blocked and end up taking two steps back… Or you feel like you're stuck in place and you can't move forward, no matter how much you try.
You feel discouraged and disheartened, like your side hustle is never going to get off the ground, and you just can't figure out why you're feeling like this.
You can't figure out what you should be doing, because every time you go to good ole' Google, you get bombarded with so much information.
How do you know which information is right for you?
I get it. There is a lot of information out there. So to help you turn inaction into action and get rid of the never-ending overwhelm, and finally figure out what to focus on next, it helps to start by doing something a little different than what you're doing right now.
Table of Contents
Turning Inaction into Action
Follow the steps below to help get unstuck, lose the overwhelm and get clarity on what you need to do next in your side hustle, or anything you're struggling with right now.
Step 1: Start by changing things up.
I will go for a walk. Particularly if I've been stuck in my office for most of the day, then I want to get outside. This helps to break up the monotony of whatever is going on in my business — I'll get outside and smell the fresh air.
You can do this for yourself too. Whether you're working from home or stuck in an office and you're struggling and you're not sure what you should be doing. Take a break. Get out of your office, go outside and maybe grab a coffee or juice.
If you're overwhelmed, you need to get away from whatever it is that is overwhelming you so you can clear your head.
Step 2: Write it down.
Once you're back at your desk, sit down and write down everything that you think you need to be doing. This is a free writing exercise, so just grab pen and paper and write it ALL down.
Then, take a step back and ask the questions:
“What is my very next step? What is it? What does that look like for me right now?”
Now, the response you get is largely going to depend on where you are at when it comes to your side hustle — your business — whatever it is that you're trying to achieve.
Your goal is to figure out what your priorities are, what you need to be focusing on right now to move your side hustle forward, not what you want to be focusing on.
It's about identifying what your immediate next step is.
That's the only thing that you need to be thinking about right now.
Then, you can write down the next step after that, then the next, and the next…
It really is about bringing things back down to the simplest level and taking that next step.
Getting Real Focus
Now, I know that all of this seems really simple, but the reality is, it's simple because it works.
Whenever I'm overwhelmed with #allofthethings, with everything that I'm meant to be doing, I stop, head outside for a breath of fresh air then come back and write everything down.
Then I say to myself,
“What is my immediate next step? What are my goals? What were my overarching goals for this year?”
Or,
“What is the next month goals looking like? What am I actually meant to be focusing on right now?”
Then,
“What is the immediate next step that I should be doing? What is it that I need to be doing to move forward, to be able to reach my goals, to be able to do what I need to do?”
I know this seems like a lot, but it's not. This line of questioning happens very quickly and the subsequent answers that pop into my head are within a few minutes of the questions being asked.
It's kinda like magic.
Action in action!
For example, right now I have a planner/workbook to create.
I've got to write my next book. I've got those on my to-do list.
I've also got to record a whole bunch of YouTube videos before next week.
And then I've also got a whole bunch of coaching calls coming up too.
That's a lot of stuff to try and keep track of.
But when I think about all of those things today—which is Thursday—when I think about today and ask myself what my immediate next step is, the answer is to record the next video.
That's it.
All of that other stuff, I don't need to worry about because I've captured it in my 90-day plan and it's all scheduled out. I've got it written down in my planner
And I can't worry about what's happening tomorrow, because that's tomorrow Lise's problem, not today's Lise's problem! I only need to worry about what's happening today.
Your Immediate Action Step
I hope that those ideas and strategies will help you figure out what your next step is and make you feel less overwhelmed and take your inaction and turn it into action.
Your immediate next step is to get outside. Clear your head. Get rid of all the weird stuff that's going on right now inside your head. Then come back and write everything down that you've got swirling around up there, then pick your next step.
That's all you need to do.
I'd love to hear about if this works for you, so feel free to share in the comments below your own takeaways and if you have a different strategy for tuning inaction into action, I'd love to hear it!
