Overcoming Overwhelm

- You have a lot of perspective when it comes to living well, particularly in the realm of productivity. And so you got the podcast of Productivity Paradox, and a course, and more. So I would just love to dig all around this area, and maybe we can start with, when folks are feeling overwhelmed, there's too much, they're panicked, and it's just, well it's overwhelming. - It's overwhelming. (laughing) It's so true. - What do you do with that? - Well, what's funny is that I talk to a lot of people, in all different walks of life, and I'll say to them when I meet them, you know, how do you feel about work? How do you feel about your business? How do you feel about your tasks at home? And the word I hear again and again is overwhelmed. They're overwhelmed by the amount of things that they have to do. I believe that far too many people feel overwhelmed by everything they have to do each day. So they push aside their goals and their dreams because of that overwhelm. I often tell people that overwhelm isn't having too much to do. It's not knowing where to start. And so that's what I like to talk to people about. Where do you start, how do you prioritize, how do you figure out what it is you want to do first? What do you want to do next? And then really creating a life that's around that, because at its' heart, productivity is not about getting things done. It's about doing what is most important. And that is really what helps us feel really satisfied, and really happy with our days. You know, too often I feel like people run around busy all day long. When they slip into bed at night and their head hits the pillow, they feel really unsatisfied. They feel unsuccessful, even though they were busy all day long. And that's because they're living in the state of overwhelm instead of really working on the tasks that will move them forward towards the life they want, towards their goals, they're putting out all of these fires. And so that's really what I like to talk to people about, is getting over that feeling of overwhelm, cutting through the noise and the clutter, and getting to what is most important to you. And that's really the heart of it, too, is that to you part. It has to be customized to you. Too often these productivity systems that people teach and talk about, they're designed so that the productivity system's in the center, and your supposed to work your life around it. And I teach the opposite. I believe your life and your priorities are at the center, and then we create a system together to work around that. So that way your priorities are always front and center in your life. And that's what helps, you know, alleviate a lot of that overwhelm, is really knowing where you want to focus.