Kc Rossi 0:00
Hello and welcome back to Women Developing Brilliance — The Spirit of Business. Today is day two in the How To Reduce Overwhelm Starting Today. A series that originally was a live stream, we are going to be talking about our to don't list as high achieving leaders, CEOs and entrepreneurs, we typically don't have a problem tackling our to do list. However, if we are feeling buried, oftentimes we have too much on our plate. And defining our wildly important goal helps us to see if what we are saying yes to is in alignment with our big desires. I recently came across a beautiful quote from Jon Kabat Zinn. And he says "Overwhelm means life is unfolding at a rate that neither my psyche, nor my nervous system can handle."
Kc Rossi 0:54
This series is all about putting in small, actionable things, to allow ourselves to be able to handle life just a little easier. I hope you enjoy today's episode.
Kc Rossi 1:07
Hello, hello, hello. I hope you caught yesterday's live stream all about how to reduce overwhelm starting today. If not, you can feel free to catch that replay. Today is the second piece because we are breaking this down into actionable nuggets over this full week. So there's going to be five parts to this series to help you reduce or eliminate overwhelm.
Kc Rossi 1:38
So I'm KC Rossi. I'm a Mindset and Leadership Coach and I help women entrepreneurs, CEOs and leaders go from burnout perfectionists to profitable powerhouses. And today I wanted to continue the series because especially at this time of the year, we are experiencing overwhelm to greater extents even a lot of the reason is because of the holiday. But just in general, everything that we've gone through from 2020. And 2021 wasn't necessarily easier. And I think that that has a tendency to layer on this sense of overwhelm or feeling buried.
Kc Rossi 2:19
So a couple things we're going to talk about today is really about what we can subtract. So this week, I have a combination of what you can subtract from your day or your schedule or even your mindset. And then later in the week, we're going to talk about things to add all with that common goal of reducing overwhelm.
Kc Rossi 2:39
So today, we are taking away something and it is really being very mindful of a no list. Because I know many of you watching are high achievers, you have no problem with a to do list. But today is all about a to don't list. And sometimes it's even more challenging to subtract something because we can get very used to being on that hamster wheel. And in that gogogo rush, hustle and grind lifestyle that my friend absolutely contributes to overwhelm.
Kc Rossi 3:15
What we're trying to do is unthread from that. So I want you to be thinking about what you can add to your no list, or your to don't list. And one of the ways to help you whittle that down or refine what gets a priority slot on that to do list is first off becoming very, very clear about your goals, because then it'll make it an easy yes or an easy no when it comes to creating those two do's and two don't lists.
Kc Rossi 3:48
So one of the things that helps me when I'm trying to goal set, a couple things, actually one, and especially if you're experiencing just kind of like a racing mind or not able to really hone down what those specific goals are, I invite you to reduce the window of your planning. And what I mean by that is, especially as we start getting towards the end of this year, and for surely in January, you're going to have so many people helping you plan your quarter your year, some people might even be helping you do a three or five year projection, and in my experience, and when I assist my clients that contributes to overwhelm, so my invitation to you is if you're starting to feel pressured or already in overwhelm, reduce that planning window even to 30 days.
Kc Rossi 4:41
I think that's fabulous because it is long enough to accomplish something and short enough to still have that positive resistance of working towards that deadline. And especially if you're motivated by seeing a deadline, it doesn't extend it out that 3/6/9/12 months that maybe feels elusive, and unattainable, so my recommendation is to shorten that window to 30 days.
Kc Rossi 5:08
The second piece to that is, it's the psychological twist, when you add in just two little words before the world, the word goal. And those two words are wildly important. I find when I add those words, in, all the sudden my brain shifts to Oh, okay, wait a second here. Let me pause. I think it gives us reason to pause and ponder and not just plow through a to do list or a goal setting sheet. But when you literally get grounded and think, What is my wildly important goal for this month, you've got that restricted container. Now you're adding those superlatives. So you're really dialing in on what's going to connect to your passion, what really is meaningful to you, what is in alignment to your deep why. And then the cool part is, when you go to plug into what you've decided, is going to go on your to do list, you can be asking yourself, what's important now, and I love that acronym is win, "W" for what's important for the "I." And "N" for the now. And this is going to help you win the day and win at becoming not overwhelmed, staying away from overwhelm, getting proactive, to make sure that you don't fall into overwhelm.
Kc Rossi 6:32
So that was a lot, but absolutely something that you're going to find power and effectiveness if you can implement it. The other thing that I think is really interesting, because I'm a fan of really understanding words and breaking them apart. So the word priority came into our English language in the 1400s. And it was only in singular form. Because it was the first thing, the most important thing, the thing prior to anything else. And I find it so very interesting that it stayed that way for 500 years, it wasn't until the 1900s that we decided to make that original word priority, have a plural definition of priorities, which when you think about it, you can't have multiple priorities, and give that the time attention and sacred space that it deserves in order to get accomplished. So I want you to think about that when you are creating your to do list and your to don't list. Right? When you are creating those.
Kc Rossi 7:43
Absolutely in the to do list, you want to be thinking does this align with my short term goal? Is it contributing to what's important now, so it can help me win. So that's kind of the train of thought that's really going to set you up for success. And then on the flip side, when you're very clear with what you are saying no to it makes it so so much easier when you have that shortened window of what you're working towards.
Kc Rossi 8:10
And you're asking yourself are matching that up to it? Does this support my wildly important goal? If it doesn't, it's a very easy no. If you are already feeling constricted or restricted, this is the time to start taking things off your plate. This is the time to politely schedule things out further, whether it's to do a guest blog post, or be on a summit or be a guest speaker on a podcast. Visibility is awesome, but only when you're in the zone of flow and alignment. Because when it's just another thing on your to do list, one you're not going to show up as your best self. And we know that our vibe attracts our tribe.
Kc Rossi 8:50
So we want to have visibility when we are in alignment and juiced up and we can shine our light and be radiant exemplars of our mission, our purpose, our passion. If not schedule it out. Maybe it's not a no maybe it's just not now. So those are some of the things I want you to think about. Definitely breathe into this. If it resonates with you put it into action sooner than later.
Kc Rossi 9:15
Again, this is a five part series this week. So this is just Tip two. If you missed tip one, go back and watch the replay. And tomorrow I will be back with the third tip of this series, helping you and supporting you to damper down that overwhelm so you can feel grounded and more balanced. Alright my friends until tomorrow, Breathe Joy.
