Overcome Overwhelm
Libba Narron Lewey
“I try to take one day at a time, but lately several days have attacked me at once!”
Charlie Brown (Peanuts Comic Strip)
Feeling overwhelmed? If so, you are not alone. Recently
I read of an entrepreneur who had close to 700 emails to
deal with. He had five speaking engagements that week,
three blogs to write, a webinar to design; and on top of
that, has a family of five children. He admitted to feeling
overwhelmed and I’ll bet you can relate. We each have our
own circumstances and brand of “overwhelm.”
David Alan, author of Getting Things Done, says one of
the top reasons for overwhelm is a lack of clarity around
“who we are” and “what we are to be about.” You and I
are running at 100 miles per hour with gusts up to 500.
Yet, stop for a moment. Can you say with conviction that
reading this article is exactly what you need to be doing at
this moment?
people is that very successful people say no to almost
everything.” Warren Buffet
Dr. Howard ‘Prof ’ Hendricks always encouraged his
students at Dallas Seminary to make a “To Don’t List”
as well as a To Do List. In order to reboot our time
schedules, all of us have areas where we must say “no.”
The “No” muscle is there. No is one of the most powerful
words in leadership of self, families, and others. Say it
kindly, say it clearly. Communicate “no” so there are no
misunderstandings. Some experts advise that you give no
excuse or explanation for your “no.” I don’t always buy that
reasoning.
Years ago, when doing interior design work, I had
a wallpaper subcontractor named Ed, working in a
commercial office building. We had a tight deadline to
Number 1 Overcome Overwhelm Strategy: Get Clear
complete the job. One afternoon Ed walked off the job
“The indispensable f