6 Tips to Not Be Overwhelmed By Your Goals
Do you have so many goals and aspirations that you feel overwhelmed? Do you often intend to work hard on your goals, but end up doing something else instead?
If that’s the case, you’re in the right place. In this post, I will give you my best tips on how not to be overwhelmed by your goals.
Now, before we get to the actual tips, I just want to say that it is very normal to feel overwhelmed and be unsure about what you should do to make those dreams of yours come true. After all, when you set a new goal for yourself, you’re deciding to do something you’ve never done before. Often you don’t even really know what it is that you should do!
This post will take you one step closer to your goals by helping you stay calm in the face of the challenges you will encounter.
Remember that you don’t need to have everything figured out in the beginning; you just need to know what is the next step.
Step 1: Figure out why exactly you’re overwhelmed by your goals
First of all, you need to know why you feel so overwhelmed. Otherwise you don’t know what is the problem you have to fix. Go through this list and see which of these problems applies to you.
1. You don’t know what exactly you have to do to reach your goal
One common problem people have but often ignore is not knowing what exactly you should do. It’s easy to say that you want to move to New York, get into law school, or build a million-dollar business.
But the more complex your goal is, the harder it is to know what are the steps you should take to get there.
If you want to get into law school, you know you have to study. But how much? What study techniques should you use? What things besides studying could help you get in? And if you’re building that seven-figure business, you probably have even more questions.
2. You have too many things to do
Sometimes you have a good idea of everything you should do, but there are just way too many things that you should focus on at the same time.
This is very relatable to me as a blogger. Currently, I have a list of a hundred blog posts I should write (preferably as soon as possible), but I should also work on my Instagram, Pinterest, ebooks, and so on. Additionally, I need to work on some technical issues and keep up with SEO news. Not to mention that I should update and rewrite tens of posts from a couple of years back. It gets overwhelming very quickly.
3. You don’t believe in yourself
Low self-confidence is also a common problem and that can unfortunately keep you from reaching your goals.
Not to worry though, that’s a problem you absolutely can fix. And building a growth mindset is always a good idea anyway, no matter what your goals are.
In any case, it’s important that you don’t hold yourself back just because you feel like you don’t have the skills, experience, or the right social background to make your dreams come true. No one is perfect and you can learn literally anything you set your mind to.
4. You procrastinate a lot
Procrastination can feel like a problem that just follows you everywhere, no matter what you do. But it’s also something you most definitely can overcome. You just need to figure out what makes you procrastinate and then make it easier for you to do the things you have to do.
Years ago I used to procrastinate a lot and it was hard for me to get almost anything done. But eventually I learned to stop wasting time and be productive instead. And it’s honestly a much easier way to live.
Step 2: What to do when you feel overwhelmed by your goals
Once you know the reasons behind feeling overwhelmed, you’re already halfway done fixing your problem.
The next step is to actually stop feeling overwhelmed by your goals.
1. Make everything clear
One of the main reasons for feeling overwhelmed is that you don’t quite know what you should do. That’s why one of the most important things you should do is to make everything as clear as possible.
And by everything, I mean that you should know what exactly is your ultimate goal, what are your yearly and weekly goals, and what are the things you should do daily to make progress on your goal. You should do your best to have a clear idea of what steps you need to take to reach your biggest goals.
Whenever you feel like you’re not quite sure what you should do, ask yourself how you can make things clearer.
Related article: 5 Important Steps to Make Your Goals Achievable
2. Create a timeframe
You need a clear plan, but you also need to think about time. If you don’t, you might end up procrastinating on your goals because you can always put things off till tomorrow.
Try to create a timeframe in which you can complete all the steps needed to reach your goal. You need to have an idea of what you need to accomplish this year and what you should do this week. Make sure to leave some time for setbacks and sick days as well. The more flexible your plan is, the easier it is to stick to it.
Overall, your timeframe should be realistic, but at the same time, it should push you to work and not leave time for excuses.
3. Break everything down into actionable steps
This is possibly the most important thing when it comes to productivity and goal-setting. You need to break down every task into actionable steps. This will make it much easier to organize your days and stick to your plan.
Let’s say your goal is to build a successful Youtube channel. That means that you need to create a lot of videos and find subscribers somewhere. But that’s not a plan yet.
What you want to do, is to list all the things you need to do in the near future, break them down into clear, actionable steps, and then schedule each task over the course of a week or a month.
Each actionable step should take no more than half an hour. You only want things on your to-do list that you can complete in one sitting. So for example, “film a Youtube video” becomes an actionable list of tasks: brainstorm ideas, do keyword research, write an outline for the video, film the video, edit it using the Pomodoro technique, create a thumbnail, write the description, publish the video and post it on your other social media channels.
The clearer the steps, the easier it is to complete them.
4. Get as organized as possible
When you have a lot of things to do, it’s natural to get overwhelmed. But you can fight that feeling by getting organized.
I recommend you create a system that helps you stay on track of everything and pushes you to get everything done.
You can use a paper planner, such as a Clever Fox planner, or go digital and use GoodNotes. It’s a good idea to try different methods before deciding what works best for you.
One thing to keep in mind is that your system shouldn’t be complicated. If you use a planner for some things, Notion for some, there are random to-do lists scattered everywhere and an additional list of notes on your phone, it’s going to be really hard to stay on top of everything.
5. Make everything as simple as possible
To avoid being overwhelmed, you have to make things simple. Every plan you create should only have the things that you actually need in it, your desk should be as empty as possible, and you should focus on getting things done instead of aiming for perfection.
If you have a morning routine, it should be simple. If you have multiple goals, don’t work on them all at the same time. It’s also a good idea to make your daily life simpler, for example by setting a time when you can check social media or the news. This will also reduce distractions, which will in turn make working on your goals much easier.
6. Focus on consistency
The number one reason why people don’t reach their goals is lack of consistency. Whether you are working on a book, a social media account, or a business, you have to be consistent.
This can be easy in the beginning, but once the work you need to do every day starts feeling repetitive and you’re not seeing the results you want, it gets harder to continue.
One challenge you’ll likely face with a goal such as writing a book, is that you get new ideas all the time and you might end up ignoring your original goal because you spend your time working on new projects.
That’s why you want to keep in mind that consistency is the key to success and doing even just a little bit every day helps.
+ Leave time for free time
I’m all for working hard when needed, but you do need some time to relax too. Even if you have a busy schedule and a lot to do, you should still leave some time for free time. I like to take a long, two- or three-hour break in the afternoon, but you need to find what works for you. Perhaps what works best for you is to be productive until 6 pm and then rest after that.
Final thoughts on being overwhelmed by your goals
Having a lot of goals and a lot of ideas for all kinds of new projects can easily become overwhelming. That’s why it’s important to focus on making things as clear and simple as possible.
If you feel overwhelmed by your biggest goals, just remember that your feelings are completely normal, and you absolutely can reach your goals. When you work hard, you tend to run into some luck along the way.
Next, I suggest that you read this post about how there’s a good chance you’re afraid of success without even knowing it.
Also, comment below what your biggest goals are, I’d love to know!
