Hi, this is Mike Pettigrew, best selling author and serial entrepreneur since 1987 and I help ordinary people achieve extraordinary goals, but not in the way you might think. And in this short video, we're going to look at six simple ways. Six simple, effective ways to manage - well to overcome overwhelm. Because let's face it, overwhelm is a really big problem these days. In fact, it's been found that stress and overwhelm are the basic cause of more than 60% of all human illness and disease. And this is according to the medical - American Medical Association. And that's really serious. And you might think how, how can stress and overwhelm create disease? Well, if you're stressed a lot of the time, over a prolonged period of time, it has dramatic effects on how your body operates, how your brain functions, and every aspect of your physical well being. So over - over a period of time the consequences are very serious.

In fact, it's been found that stress is actually the biggest killer today, not directly, but the long term effects of stress. So very serious, very serious indeed. So what are these six simple ways to overcome overwhelm? Well, whenever you experience overwhelm - and we all do from time to time, do these things, it's very simple. Number one, take a two minute break, two minute break and breathe and relax and recharge and refocus. And you might think: "How can I take a break when I'm overwhelmed?". "How can I take a break when I'm really stressed?" "I've got things I've got to get done and I've got to get them done quickly". Well, you know what - just by sacrificing that two minutes by walking away from your desk and just breathing. Focusing on your breathing. Maybe do some gentle exercises. Two minutes later when you return to your work, you'll feel different.

It's almost like a reset switch has been pressed. You'll have more energy, your focus will be brought back. You'll have more aliveness. So it's not a sacrifice. Taking a little, what would you say? An energization break. A refocus break for two minutes. Ideally you should be doing this every hour to 90 minutes of your workday. So instead of losing energy and focus as you go through the day, you can replenish that energy and focus as you go through the day. Simple, simple technique, very effective. The next one is to prioritize every single morning. Uh, do you do this at the beginning of each work day? Do you look at the things that you've got to do today? Most people do, but do you prioritize them? Do you put them in order of what needs to be done? The most important thing at the top, that little shift, that tiny little bit of planning each day means that, okay, when things happen, things happen to all of us during our work day where our attention is is - lots of things vie for our attention.

But when you prioritize this simple - in this simple way, it just makes sure that you progress - you progress, the most important things. So when you are interrupted, you know what to go back to when you return to your, your, your normal pace. So that's number two. Number three is mind mapping. And I've talked about this in many videos and training programs in the past. Mind mapping is a really simple, effective way of boosting your clarity and your creativity. And I've, as I said, I've created many videos about this, but basically with a mind map, you write in the center of your piece of paper, A4 sheet of paper, your project, the thing that you want to get done. And then you ask yourself, what things do I need to do in order to achieve this goal, or progress this project? And just anything that comes to you just write down on the page.

You can always rearrange it later, but just the act of doing this on a piece of paper or you can use software - it stimulates your creativity and ideas that you would not have had suddenly come into your mind. So it's a great way of feeling your way forwards in any project. Eh, it's, it's mind mapping is absolutely incredible. I mind map everything - everything from, uh, projects, business projects, projects to writing books and what the contents of the book will be and how I'm going to market it and all that. Mind mapping is wonderful. Number four. Ha this is a big one for a lot of people. It was for me for many years - I used to say back, you know, back when I was in my twenties early twenties even late twenties, I was always saying yes to everyone. I was the guy that liked to help people - I still do. But I think there was a lot of self sacrifice.

And if you don't value your own time and energy, other people will not either. So if you find that you're always being interrupted by your work colleagues always asking, they're always asking you for help because they know you're capable. And sometimes it's important to learn the fine art of saying no. At first it will be very difficult, but after a while it'll become a lot easier. And as you guard your time, other people will respect your time a lot more. So its hard to get started, but the effects on dramatically reducing stress and overwhelm, it's, it's just uh, learning the fine art of saying no is so important. That's number four. Number five, use block time without distractions. Whenever I'm, I'm working on any important project, which is quite often or writing a book - I'll always block out time for that specific activity. It could be the beginning of the day.

It could be the end of the day, it could be nighttime depending on your own. Um, what would you say your own creativity, the times of day that you feel most creative. A lot of people are night owls and they work best at night. I'm just giving as an example, writing a book, but this can apply to anything that you're trying to progress for ward - push forwards in your life. So blocking out time only for that activity without distraction - you will be amazed at the amount of progress that you can - you can make in a single month. If you do this every day for a single month, you could write a book, a really good book. But as I say, you need to make sure that this is, this block time is uninterrupted. I mean, switching off emails, switching off social media, your phone, all of that. Telling people I'm not going to be available, you know, during this time each day and people will generally respect that. But just by blocking out time for important activities, it means you make huge progress in whatever it is you're trying to achieve - and at the same time, dramatically reducing stress, burnout and overwhelm. And finally, number six, this is really important. Something I've been doing for over 35 years - meditating, meditating. Meditation has been found to have all sorts of amazing benefits. Everything from reduction in stress and blood pressure to boosting creativity, connecting you with your inner wisdom really powerfully, but it also dramatically reduces stress and burnout and overwhelm. So if you're not meditating already, look into this, look into this. I think you'll find it fantastic. So those are six simple ways to overcome overwhelm. And if you are ready to get to your next level of success, abundance, freedom, and wealth, check out the Ultimate Success Club at AchieveGoalsFast.com/USC because every month we get together online and I teach high-performance strategies, tools, and techniques that are scientifically proved to work. These are the success strategies, tools, and techniques that matter the most, and give amazing results to people who put them into practice. As I say, this is scientifically proved to work, so I hope this short video has helped you and I look forward to speaking with you again very soon. Bye. Bye.