Katie McManus gives ADHD business owners three moves when overwhelmed: ground yourself for three minutes, list three tasks including one easy win, then start the one you've been avoiding. Small wins trigger dopamine and break the freeze.
If you're feeling overwhelmed and you're a business owner with adhd, then here's what you're going to do. And hi. I help ADHD business owners make more money in less time with fewer distractions. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach. First thing, you are going to stop. When we become overwhelmed as ADHD entrepreneurs, we tend to spiral, okay? Everything becomes way bigger than it actually is. Everything feels urgent and we cannot see the forest for the trees. So I know it feels like you have to get everything done right now, right this second, but you don't. So I want you to set a timer for three minutes. I want you to get up, I want you to stretch and move your body. I want you to take big, deep belly breaths, and I want you to focus in on what you are feeling in this meat suit that you have that's taking you through life right now. And when you've finished, you're going to sit back down wherever you work and you're going to make a list of three things. The first thing on your list is going to be something easy, your easiest win, something that needs to happen this week that you can just get off of your plate. It doesn't take a whole lot of mental energy to do it. The second thing you're going to do is going to be something visible, okay? So if you haven't done social media yet today, you're going to go and post something. If you haven't sent an email to your list yet this week, you're going to go and do that. If you're amazing and you've already done those things, then your visibility task is going to be anything that could potentially move a potential client from potential client to actual paying client. And the third thing is going to be something that you have been avoiding doing. Now, this could be because it's absolutely miserable to do. It could also be because you don't know how to do it. And here's the trick. You're going to start it, okay? You do not have to finish it today, okay? But you are going to take the first couple steps in starting doing this task. And remember that running a business is always overwhelming, okay? There's nothing specifically wrong with you that you're feeling overwhelmed and flooded right now, okay? That a normal state of affairs if you're running a business. And remember that we're always going to be behind, okay? We have a whole life ahead of us that we're already behind on, okay? When we started first grade, we were already behind on all the homework that we were supposed to do that year. Okay? You're always going to be behind. Okay? Cut yourself some fucking slack. And literally, I was just feeling this way myself. So I responded to an email that I had been avoiding responding to just because I was having ADHD paralysis around it. I'm making a TikTok. This is my action number two. And my third action has to do with setting up my new email, you know, software, which is completely intimidating to me. So I'm just going to start it. I'm just going to learn how everything works, you know, like where the buttons are, and I'm going to let myself have a win there. And I know this doesn't sound like a lot of things, but I want you to compare it to if you stay in your overwhelmed state like you are right now, what's going to happen? Likely you're going to stay in ADHD paralysis. Your executive dysfunction is going to be running rampant. You're not going to get anything done. So getting these three things done will not only help you be more productive, but it will also get that dopamine drip going, okay? So you have more dopamine so that you can feel your executive function kick back in and you can start doing other things that you need to do and like and follow for more ADHD business owner tips.
