From coaching hundreds of managers, I’ve discovered that 95% of of them are overwhelmed. They are stressed and their thinking is somewhat cloudy.

Have you ever felt like this?

If you feel like this now, I’ve got some good news for you… In this short thoughtleader piece, I’m going to share with you the meaning of ‘overwhelm’ and how to overcome it.

The emotion of overwhelm means: “you are unclear on your priorities.” Actions must be taken on your behalf to listen to this emotion, not ignore it.

So, you have three choices when you feel overwhelmed:

1. Deny it, keep on going as usual and be stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. (Don’t do this by the way. 🙂

2. Do more in a faster way until your adrenaline wears out, you collapse, look back on the tasks you’ve done and realise that most of those tasks were unimportant but urgent (i.e., answered every email in your inbox).

3. Become aware and take intelligent action. First, realise that your emotion of overwhelm is trying to teach you that “you’re unclear on your priorities.” You must stop (literally). Sit down at your desk, write down a list of all your priorities, then make a decision on the top 1-3 priorities you need to focus on right now (you may need to clarify this with your boss). Then go ahead and do the first one.

What we notice from a behavioural perspective is, when you get all of your tasks out of your head onto a piece of paper, identify your key task and take some actions, ‘overwhelm’ will start to dissipate and clarity will start to appear.