Motivation is a great thing, but every entrepreneur sometimes feel overwhelmed instead of motivated by that seemingly-never-ending list of things to accomplish.  It’s a NORMAL part of the creative and growth part of our business. 

So how do you take that feeling of overwhelm and turn it on its head to get your mojo back?  I asked other entrepreneurs to share how they go from overwhelmed to motivated and made this list of their 40 best tips for dealing with overwhelm. 

Here are their strategies.  ENJOY!

1. Write a to-do list to get it all out of my head
2. Look in the mirror and tell myself, “I’ve got this!”
3. Make an action plan: break down the goals into smaller steps
4. Set a timer for 15 or 30 minutes to spend in full force on the issue(s)
5. Step away and take a walk while listening to something motivational
6. Block out times for each item on my calendar
7. Organize and prioritize
8. Do things that channel the excess energy
9. Get clear about what I want to create/have happen
10. Look at my vision board and reconnect with my “why”
11. I boost my self-care routine for the day and give my body and mind whatever they need
12. Take a deep breath and count to 10 slowly
13. Breathe and repeat a mantra like, “this too shall pass”
14. Social interaction with similarly driven people gets me back on track
15. Listen to music or meditate
16. Go and rest, then the ideas start flowing and I write them all down
17. Talk to my accountability partner
18. Write in my journal
19. I call it a day and start fresh the next day
20. Practice calming mindfulness exercises – overwhelmed is just a thought
21. Looking at my bank account motivates me to do even more
22. I made t-shirts with mirror-image quotes so that I get motivated when I look in the mirror
23. Go exercise
24. Rewind back to the last pain point before the overwhelm started and go from there one step at a time
25. Do the next thing that is right in front of you to get a sense of accomplishment
26. I recharge by unplugging and focusing on the people around me
27. Change my environment
28. Do the most critical thing first
29. Do the least enjoyable thing first
30. Do the easiest thing first
31. Do the hardest thing first
32. Delegate tasks
33. Take a nap
34. Read a book
35. Clarify my ROI for the tasks needing to be done
36. Do something nice for someone else
37. Sort my to-dos on a priority scale of 1-3
38. Put something on my list that I actually want to do
39. Make space to feel my emotions
40. Order tacos

There are so many great ideas here that I had to share them with you!  For me personally, I find that I get the most motivated by finishing off a list, so I make short lists of the most critical things that need to be done first.  I call this the “have to, need to, want to” list.  If I have 10 things on my list and I don’t get all 10 done, I don’t feel great, but if I have 6 things on my list and I get all 6 done, I’m ready to do more!  So my list is all of the “have to-s” and I do them first or set a time on my calendar to attend to them.  If I room on my list I’ll add one “need to” and more often than not I have at least one “want to” for after I finish my list. 

How about you?  Leave a comment with your favorite way to go from overwhelmed to motivated!