5 tips for tackling overwhelm. EP #154 - Den Lennie

G', day, guys. Dan Lanney here, host of the how to Scale a Video Business podcast, coming to you here with episode number 154. And today, I want to talk about overwhelm. I'm going to give you five tips for tackling overwhelm, because it's a really serious issue that gets a lot of people down.

You know, it's if you don't get a hold of your time and your energy, you can just spin around in circles, and that can be so disruptive to productivity. So today we're going to discuss that and help you come up with five ways of overcoming that and becoming more productive and more effective. And you'll be doing that in the next 20 minutes or so.

So, you know, this is something that you have to work on. This is not something you're going to just be able to nail straight away unless you're an extremely disciplined discipline, should I say individual.

And this is something that I want to encourage you, that you can train yourself to become better at. Like anything in life, you've just got to actually put some processes in place, build some new habits, and from there.

Understand what's causing the overwhelm and actually, you know, do something about it. So, you know, people tell me that they often just, there's not enough hours in the day. You know, I'd love to do all these things, but, you know, I'm just so busy with production and editing and clients that it becomes a very challenging thing to overcome. And I get it. You know, there can be a lot of things vying for your time. So today, what I'm going to do is just break down a few things for you that I hope will help you manage this sense of overwhelm. Now, there are two key things that I want to focus on. One is stuff or things that you have no control over. And then there's stuff that you do have control over. And oftentimes in business and in life, the answers are pretty simple. They're usually fairly simple solutions. It's just that we seem to want to overcomplicate everything all the time.

So what do I mean by that? Well, a friend of mine recently lost his grandfather, and he's really sad because he had a really close relationship with his grandfather, but he realizes there's nothing you can do about the passing of him. It's kind of set in stone. He has no control over that. Another friend of mine, a colleague of mine, has just been sued for 10 for $100,000 because of a problem that occurred when his company Used a third party piece of software for a piece of client work. Now again, there's not much they have control over in this process. What they can do is learn from it, both situations and process the information so you can take things away from it. Now that might seem extreme, but let's go through this in details. Number one, Charlie's grandfather passing. What can he take away from that? Well, what he can take away from it is the fact that he wish he'd spent more time with him. You could take away the fact that he gained a lot of great insight from his grandfather and that helped him and will continue to help him as he goes forward in his life. But the important thing is to use this as a time for reflection. When someone passes or you get sick, it's usually an opportunity for us to slow down and reflect.

Just the beginning of last year, I had a really, really bad chesty cough. It was just around the time Covid started and it wasn't Covid, but it was a really bad chesty cough. And I'd had it kind of for a while.

And then, you know, I remember one particular night coming home from the office and, and just had like massive sweats, goosebumps, massive fever. Literally went to bed and felt really, really ill. Next morning, still felt rough. So I went to doctors, they checked me over and nothing really other than a bit of stress and a compound effect of maybe a cold and a viral cough, then a bacterial cough. Anyway, the details are such that when you get sick, you really makes you stop and reflect on what's important. And so as a result of that, I realized I had to rest. So instead of going for my morning walk, last two mornings back then, I just stayed in bed and recharged a little bit. But it's always a shame that some sort of sickness is what's required to make us stop and reflect and appreciate what we have and appreciate how we're using our time that moves on to the next thing. The thing you do have control over. Now, this other friend of mine who's being sued, what they're learning is the whole process will provide a really valuable lesson in putting something stronger procedures in place, putting stronger processes in place to make sure that they have a stronger contract in future. So if something goes wrong with a third party piece of software, it doesn't fall back on them. Now granted, these are quite extreme examples, but they're real. And when I heard about both of these, I suddenly realized that my challenges pale intense significance because unfortunately no one's died recently is close to me and I'm not being sued. So it's perspective. You know, when you hear other stories of other people's adversity, it really puts your own challenges into perspective. And I'm not saying that your own challenges aren't serious and you can't feel them in a very real way. But what's important is what happens when stuff goes wrong and what you can learn from the process. And more importantly, how do you plan to do things differently in the future? And that's the real core message I want to touch on in this episode today. Because everyone has challenges. And what I think is really helpful to do is when you can put them into some sort of perspective, because the only thing you can control is how you actually respond to those challenges. Now, going back a few years, I used to have, you know, temper is the wrong one. I didn't have a temper. I used to be someone that would react.

Really badly to something negative that happened to me. I take it really personally. And I think probably that's when I discovered I suffered from a degree of anxiety and a bit of panic, especially when it came around to if money, if revenue was down in the business, you know, like, you know, talking back a few years ago now.

And how quickly I wanted to grow, and sometimes in the past I'd put myself under unrealistic expectations. So when I did actually achieved some success, I didn't ever felt satisfied because I never felt I'd hit the unrealistic target. I wanted to. And, and the truth is I, I have, I have hit it because I've achieved so many other things in my life. But, but, but I hadn't achieved the unrealistic financial target because in the first place it was unrealistic. I'd put myself under too much pressure to achieve a financial target. We're talking when, you know, 10 years ago, when I was starting the business. But, you know, it's really important that we're realistic about the targets we set for ourselves and the time frame in which we hope to achieve them. And, you know, I think Tony Robbins is famous for saying we're wildly over ambitious about what we can achieve in one year, but we wildly underestimate what we can achieve in five. I mean, five years ago, just about over five years ago, Sam and I were living in England. Now we're about to move into our house on the beach. You know, five years, six years later, it's ridiculous. But then it's predictable as well, because that was our intention. So, you know, the point here is is that these are just kind of cursory examples to demonstrate that you have to be realistic about the goals you're setting for yourself with the resources you have available to yourself, and additionally appreciate what you have already, because you never know when it's going to be taken away from you. So I want to touch on five key elements here which I think will help you and to put this in some sort of perspective. So, number one, you can't manage time, but you can manage energy. You can't make more hours in the day that are 24 hours in the day. And once they're gone, they're gone. But I just recently read Elon Musk's book and discovered what he achieves in the working week. So, you know, I'm going to guarantee that you are capable of achieving way more than you think you currently are.

So step one is to manage energy by creating more space. Now, I'm not saying you can create more time here because while time is how we measure periods in space, it's not really real. So let me talk about this. So six years ago, when I was getting ready to come to Australia.

I was about six months out from the move and I realized I had six months to go before we moved and there was just so much to do. And the only way I could achieve more space and time to achieve more results was to get up earlier. And it was like January and it was cold and I started getting up at 5am now, this was after reading some posts by a mentor of mine, Robin Sharma, and he's now got a book called the 5am Club. The whole notion was, if you get up at 5am, I had a routine and that routine really set me up for the day. So it went something like this. I got up at 5am and as soon as the alarm went off, I got straight out of bed, didn't hit snooze, went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, drank two glasses of water because it's important to hydrate first thing in the morning because we're dehydrated from sleeping. Your brain, that muscle, your muscles, they need water. Then I went through a routine called 2020 20. So the first 20 minutes I'd literally get up, brush my teeth, drink some water, get dressed and go out for walk. The 20 minute walk wakes up the body and it gets the lymphatic system moving, wakes your brain up. And especially in the uk, when I was living at the time, in winter it's cold, so it really freshens you up. So 20 minute walk then I come back and drink some more water and look over my plan for the day, look at what I wanted to achieve while I was fresh and alert. And then the final 20 minutes, I would watch something or listen to something inspirational. So I'd watch some Robin Sharma videos or I'd look at something inspirational on YouTube, something that gave me a sense of wow, I could be achieving more than I am just now by thinking differently. And so by 6am and at that time my office was in the garden, I'd go into the office completely alert at 6am and from 6 till 8 I would have the most productive 2 hours of my day because there were zero distractions. And it's just, it was such a powerful antidote to the overwhelm by just making that one change. So what I would do in more detail is I would block my day into one hour chunks of six till seven, seven till eight. And I'd work for 50 minutes, six to seven. So like six to six 50, then take a 10 minute break and go stand up, stretch, whatever, and then do 7 till 7:50. And then from 7:50, late 30, I take a half hour break, have breakfast with Sam, pat the dog, whatever, and then this, this method should give you four to six hours of really productive uninterrupted time every day. Now that might not seem like a lot, but trust me, you do four to six hours of productive work in a day. It takes a lot of focus. And what I did at the time is I used an app called Rescue Time and what that helped me do was track all the activity on my computer, on my phone, give you a report at the end of the day to tell you how you've been spending your time and you can track it. So if you can't track it, you can't measure it, and if you can't measure it, you can't improve it. So I really recommend you check it out, check out rescue time and just put it on your phone and computer for a while, do a couple of weeks and just do a time audit. Now the other thing that's important is with this method you're using your time much more productively. So you don't have to work till 8 o' clock at night. You know, I have the discipline now where I mean, I started work today at midday and I'll wrap things up by about, well technically six. I've got a call with a client a bit later tonight, which is quite unusual, but Normally I work 12 till six and usually four days a week, four and a half days a week. So you know, I went from a period of like working till crazy hours, you know, weekends, the works, to you know, six o', clock, walk the dog. And you know, if you've got a dog that you like to be walked at a certain time of the day and they let you know when it's time for a walk and so walk the dog. And then I've got that break into the evening. So you know, ideally what tends to happen now is by 5, 5:30, I'm like, I'm out with a dog and that's my end of my work day. Now this has taken discipline, it's taken time and it's, it's, you know, I'm just sharing with you what I've done.

And so I was able to be, become more productive in less time. And Therefore by like 9 o', clock, Sam and I are watching an hour of TV. But I typically don't touch my phone after like 6 o' clock at night. It sits in the dock in, in the office and I'm in bed by half nine, 10 o', clock, you know, we read for 20 minutes and then off to sleep. Now another quick tip is that if you read Kindle in bed, turn the backlight right down because those blue LEDs will trick your brain into thinking it's daytime and not nighttime and it will mess with your melatonin. And so I use a tungsten light by my bed and I read that and it tends to make me fall asleep pretty quickly and then go through the cycle again. Now I get up here in Australia, I'm usually up by six and um, I pretty much wake up with the light coming through the window and depending where you are, that will be a different time of day obviously. But the point is, is that, that, that was a really key sort of hack for me and then getting a good seven to eight hours sleep a night. So critical sleep is the most important thing for productivity and more importantly, health gives your brain a chance to recharge. So that's, that's really important to me, you know. So as I say, I've adapted it slightly different. In Australia, I don't get up at 5, I gap at 6.

Sometimes I go for a walk or I take yoga three times a week and it's, I do a younger yoga and that's pretty full on. So I do that three hours, three days a week. On a Wednesday morning I typically go for a mountain bike ride with Jamie for a couple of hours up to the trails or I'll get on the bike in the office.

So, you know, it's about.

Really harnessing and allowing yourself the time to think. And meditation is another one I do. I meditate most days for 20 minutes to 40 minutes. And it just helps me to kind of really prepare myself for the dates. But building a ritual. Number two, prioritize. You can't and will never, ever do everything that's on your list, which is why the One thing focus is so critical. So to give you an example.

You'Ve got to start ignoring requests that come into your domain that don't support your core business. You've got to know what your core business is, and you've got to reject requests that don't support that.

Because if you want to get the greatest return of your time to the minute, then you have to be disciplined. It's saying no. And that is, I remember Richard Branson saying he gets so many requests, it's like you just got to stay in your lane. You've got to know what your focus is and do it, otherwise you're screwed. So there's a book called the One Thing, which is really worth listening to and watching and reading. But that one thing focus is critical.

It's the hardest thing as a creative to overcome. But I have to tell you, when you focus on one thing and just on that thing at the expense of everything else, you get so much more done in less time. So number three, tip three is manage distractions. Distractions are the poison in our modern life. And we, you know, some things can justify distractions as work, but it's. But it's not. So limit social media time. And if you're using rescue time, it will show you how much of time you're spending. I actually spend most of my day with the phone in airplane mode. I learned this from Tim Ferriss in his book Tribe of Mentors, which is, you know, when your phone rings or an email comes in, it's somebody else's priority, not yours. They want something from you. And if you are consistently checking your email, it's the literally the worst thing you can do. And especially if it's the first thing you do in the morning when you get up, because I know people kind of pick up their phone and check their email because one email can come in and completely derail you and set the tone for your day, which is really not your intention. If you've got a client project and it's. There's a problem and the first email you get is a client with a problem, you're going to just Gonna, it's gonna derail you. So and, and really limit your social media time. Be disciplined. You know, say you'll do it from 10 to 1030 in the morning and maybe 430 till 5. Check your emails if you want to use it for business. But we're all guilty. Popping into Facebook, seeing something and being wildly distracted for 15 or 20 minutes. And then when you go back you're like, well, where was I? What should I be doing? And so, you know, it's been sort of scientifically tested that it takes 15 to 20 minutes to regain your focus.

After a distraction. And so, you know, having a really clear strategic plan of what you want to achieve in your business and what you should be working on is going to make a massive difference. And if you just limit the distractions in the first place, I mean, that's your number one rule. The second thing is just don't consume any news. I haven't consumed any news for nearly three years and I used to work as a news cameraman. And the reason you shouldn't consume the news is it's low level stress and it's literally slowly killing you. I don't say that in jest either. It's low level stress which increases anxiety. If you read and listen to everything that's on the news.

What creates news ready material is sensationalism. Murders, crimes, stabbings, negativity, money markets failing, governments failing, Trump, North Korea, you name it. It's all designed to build fear into us. So you want to be consciously avoiding all negativity in your life. This is an absolute game changer. And I can tell you that not having consumed the news for the best part of three years, I'm no worse off. I actually find myself being more focused. And okay, occasionally it's unavoidable to see the news, but I don't consciously spend time consuming it. I never go, I must watch the news. You have to protect what you consume. Your brain is a massive sponge. If you consume negativity, then that negativity is going to pack right through your cells at a cellular level and you're going to feel more scarcity than abundance.

And like, you know, if you want to be, take it a stage further. I mean, I've taken all the apps off my phone, I've only got financial information on my phone. So I'm looking at my sales every day and I'm looking at my data.

And my voicemail message says, hey, it's Dan here, thanks for calling. Please do not leave a message because I won't Listen to it instead. If you need to get a hold of me urgently, please text me or email it as email address. And what this does is it tells people that you don't want to have your time interrupted by listening to a voicemail. That's an absolute game changer. You know, just because you can doesn't mean you should. So here's what happens as a result. People either don't leave a message and don't call back, which means it can't have been that important, or secondly, they'll message you or send you an email. Then you can process that data when you choose. For example, I check my email, you know, once a day at 4pm that's it. And I have a zero inbox every night.

And you know, so I'm all about extreme execution and creating systems to create more sustainability for me and my business. And that means, you know, discipline and time and discipline on distractions. Number four is make sure you dedicate at least one to two hours every day for revenue generating work. Now that can be a prospecting or a sales call, follow up.

And you know, this is, this is so important and this can literally change your life because it's very easy to fill your time in your day being busy on stuff that you think is building your business. But unless it's actually generating revenue, you're not fueling your business. You know, cash is the oxygen that fuels your business. If you're not consciously following up with prospects and conversations and people have made inquiries, then you're leaving sales conversion to chance. You know, be honest with yourself about how you spend your time. Use rescue time. Make sure you know what you're spending your time on. And this will take some practice. And I have really found this to be such a kind of powerful tool that my time is so disciplined now. I know I am very, very protective over my time because I don't want to be distracted.

And you know, I have my sales. I'll go through something called.

Pipedrive. I have an app called Cliently which has follow up flows. I can trigger them, I can see who's opening them. I can follow up with people who are actively engaging with my content.

But you want to have a solid follow up process. You know, you.

Want to make sure you can support people who need your help. Someone may have inquired three, four months ago and for whatever reason it wasn't the right time. But if you just drop them a line and say, hey, are you still looking for help with video production? You'd be amazed at how many people will Open that email and say, oh, actually yes, I saw the project changed or something, something shifted. Um, so you know, this is what, this is so important to, to focus on this and not leave it to chance.

Number five. Be very clear on your vision. Like what do you want, you know, what is it you actually want from your life? If you can't visualize that and put that into a document, then you're missing out on a powerful subconscious brain exercise. You know, a vision board is a collection of images of aspects of your future life that you would like to achieve in the next 12 months. You pin this up next to your computer or you use it as a screensaver and you will be passively consuming this 50 to 60 times per day. And the human brain is far more stimulated by visuals and images than anything else. It's the most powerful way to communicate with your deepest desires in your subconscious. Now you can put anything on a vision board that inspires and motivates you. It could be a relationship goal, it could be a career, a financial goal, it could be a home life goal, it could be the ideal house you want to live in. It could be a travel orientated goal. If you're able to travel wherever you are just now, it could just be personal growth, including meditation or more health, more time for health. It could be a social life, it could be sport, it could be education, work, whatever it is that you want to be doing more of and you're not currently doing, put it on a vision board so you can actually pre visualize how your life might look if you got your business sorted out. Because there, from there you can create a plan to achieve it. And it's something we do inside the vba. We have a visioning exercise very early on in the process and we combine that with an audit, a business audit. And we take the desires on the vision board and we look at the data from the business audit and we identify the greatest profit opportunities. And from there we create a strategic plan and guide you to create a strategic plan to achieve all of that. And that is what's going to have the biggest impact on your business. So how you create it where you just pages or Google images. I use pages and just Google images. I Google things that inspire me. I go to Pinterest, I put them on a vision board and you know, I've used three or four now and it's frightening how, how effective they are. You know, living in Australia, driving the car I drive, living in the house we're about to live in, we're building A house just now. It's a beautiful beach house, you know, 250 meters from the beach in tropical Queensland. I mean, it's. It's beyond my wildest dreams, but it was predictable because I envisioned it. You know, back in 2013, I'd never flown business class. By 2015, I was flying business, and first through various projects I was working on. And now my de facto way to travel, if I travel for a client, is business class. I don't even entertain it if it's not.

And that's because I've set it up that way. I made it very clear that was important to me. And I've done multiple vision boards since. I mean, we now live in Australia, and we have a successful business, we have amazing friends, we have an incredible life. That was all predicted. It's all predicted by us visioning it and then putting a strategic plan together to achieve it. And from there, it became reality. And, you know, I'm actually needing to do another vision board because the one I did last November's all come true. So it really circles back to what do you really want? And look, I struggled for a lot of years to actually write down what I wanted, and I struggled to identify what that really was. But I think there's an element of fear, and I think we limit ourselves by not necessarily fully leaning into what we're capable of. And when we actually commit to writing this stuff down and creating vision boards, we're actually making a commitment. We're actually making ourselves accountable.

To achieving more than we realize. And once you're clear on your vision, you can craft a mission which is the commercialization of that. Like, what is all that going to cost? Therefore, what do you need to make to be able to achieve that? That balances your life with business, with everything else that you want to do, and how much cash is that going to involve and what are you willing to do for that? And that's really just the question of doing the steps. It's like you have the same amount of time every day as anybody else, but what you focus on expands. And if you focus on the things that will achieve the outcomes you want, then you're not just staying busy, you're actually achieving a very strategic plan to achieve every goal you've ever wanted. So I want to encourage you to spend this, you know, last period of January. In fact, we're almost into February now, you know, really getting clear on what you want from this year, because this, this could be the very best year of your business career and very best year of your life. You just need to choose to do that. All right, guys, I'll see you next time. You've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host, Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner, it's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support, and coaching. Then check out how you can work with me over@denleny.com don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes, and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don't forget to share. If you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers you know, then please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that you might be in. So thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.