How to Eliminate Overwhelm

Foreign.

It's Luis Massaro.

And welcome to another episode of the Moving Mastery Podcast.

This podcast is all about helping you reach that next level in your moving company. And we do that by sharing with you processes and strategies and ideas that get you thinking bigger on what's possible. You know, I grew my business from working out of a truck rental yard all the way to $20 million a year. And I want to help share those.

Strategies with you so that you could.

Reach that next level in your business, whatever that is for you. And, you know, it's not all about just making more money. It's about profiting in your business and thriving in your life.

And we do that by, you know.

Being able to set up those systems, set up those processes so we could step away and work on our business and not be every single day stuck in the grind so that we have some time to enjoy with our families and just enjoy life and the fruits of our labor. And today, I am just so excited to talk to you about something that is gonna help you reach that next level in your business. And it's called Smart Moving Software. This is a company that I co founded with an amazing partner and group of programmers that have just built an amazing platform. You know, this is a software that runs your entire moving business. Not only runs it, but truly optimizes it. You know, one of the things that I the most is that you have just ultimate clarity into your numbers. I mean, as soon as you log in, you've got a dashboard right there that just tells you everything that's going on. You know, one of the things that I've realized over the years that helps moving companies really get to that next level of success is being able to know their numbers. And, you know, without a system that pulls everything together, it could be really, really challenging. And Smart Moving just has all the reports and all the information dialed in the way that you need it to be. And I'm just so excited to tell you about it today. Go check it out, get a demo, go to smartmoving.com, sign up for a free demo, check it out, and listen. If you don't have a CRM in this modern day of moving, you need a CRM. If you've already got a CRM and you're just looking for an upgrade, something that's more streamlined, something that gives you all the tools that actually matter, go to smartmoving.com, check it out. It's gonna help you do everything from the minute you get leads to your sales process, to customer service. To dispatch, to following up with your crews, to handling your numbers and your books and reports. Everything you need is there in a streamlined, systematic, automated process. And I'm just so excited to be.

A part of it.

I'm so excited to finally have a solution to offer to moving company owners that for years were asking me, louis, what platforms did you use? What softwares did you use? And the truth is, I used a lot of different stuff that I had to tie together because there wasn't something like Smart Moving that allowed me to just do everything in one place. And now that we have that, I mean, we've got customers at all different levels using this software. You know, companies that, you know, maybe they're just starting out, companies that have been in business for 10 years, they've got 10, 15 trucks, we've got nationwide franchises that are running their entire operation off of smart moving. So I want you to go check it out today because I'm so excited about it. It's called Smart Moving Software. Get your free demo@smartmoving.com and without further ado, let's jump into this episode of the Moving Mastery PO Podcast.

In order to succeed at high levels, in order to profit in your business, in order to thrive in your life, you've got to just be able to get out of overwhelm so quick. And that's what we're talking about today. Because, you know, look, if you don't have overwhelm in your life, if you don't, if it doesn't creep up at all, you probably aren't pushing the limits on what you're capable of. And that doesn't mean that you should be living with it. It doesn't mean that you should just accept it. But, you know, every once in a while, it's going to creep up and you've got to be able to get out of it. I've been dealing with it this past month, and these tools have really allowed me to stay calm, cool, collect, focused on what really matters. And I know from years of not being able to control that overwhelming and letting it take over that it really held me back, you know, from reaching my true potential or feeling totally fulfilled or happy. It's something that it's in all our lives and it's, you know, in business and in personal lives, you know, so this is something where you could share this with your family, you could share this with your spouse, you could share this with your kids, you could share this with your team. And I just truly believe that we all have an internal reality that goes on in our mind based on a perceived reality of what's happening out there in the world. And it could lead to overwhelm. I'm going to kind of share some stuff with you here on Eliminating Overwhelm. We're going to talk about how it happens, why it happens first, what to do about it when it does pop up. You need that in your toolbox like you need a note in your phone that says how to get out of overwhelm so that you don't just stay there for the day, the week, the month, years at a time. Let's think about this for a second. Overwhelm. To me, how I see it is I see it as just a big traffic jam. Like, let me just draw this out here for you for a second. Like, I see it as like a big traffic jam.

Of information.

The smile is probably not appropriate if you're feeling overwhelmed, but, like, you know, it's just a bunch of information coming into your mind, and it's like a traffic jam. And so when there's so much information and there's a traffic jam, it's like, how do we wiggle our way out of it? How do we get out of that? But we just have to be able to first put it in perspective and realize what's going on. And there's only a handful of full of things that actually are on our mind at any given time. And this is what makes up the traffic jam. So when we talk about getting out of overwhelm, what we're talking about is we're talking about getting, you know, breaking up traffic and getting it rerouted and getting things moving along so that it's not just stuck and it's just bumper. It's like bumper cars in our head. So let's just talk about.

What'S going on in the mind, okay?

There's a few things here. Number one.

Are decisions that need to be made. Okay? We're gonna break down all the stuff that's going on in your head that's causing overwhelm. There's decisions that need to be made. You may not even recognize them yet as decisions that need to be made, okay? Because I can tell you the one thing that's not on any of these cards that I'm going to show you going on in the mind is worrying anxiety, okay? Because worry is what we think is going. I'm worried about this. I'm stressed about this. There's anxiety about this. But let's. Okay, I get that. I get that. That's the Feeling that it's causing. Well, let's talk about what's really in your mind, right? And what's really in your mind are these things I'm going to share with you. So the first one is decisions that need to be made. So a lot of what we worry about, a lot of what we're fearful of, a lot of what we're stressed about are really just decisions that, that we need to make, right? How we want to move forward.

How we want to deal with the situation. Do we go on the vacation? Do we not go on the vacation? Do we open that additional office? Do we not open that additional office? And you know, sometimes when you need to make decisions, it's not always so black and white. And so we need to look at decisions that need to be made and say, do I just need some more information? Right? A lot of times when we can't make a decision, it's because you're lacking enough information. Maybe you need to do a little bit more research. Maybe you need to talk to somebody, right? Maybe you need to read something that's going to give you some insight to help you make that decision. But when you're stuck on a decision.

It'S about aligning it with what you want in your life. Does this take me towards what I want my life or is it taking me away from what I want my life? Right? And then you just have to start getting more information. So we'll get into all that. I just want to give you some idea what's going on in there, right? It's really helpful to break it down so you got decisions that you need to make. You're bothered, okay? You're bothered by somebody. You're bothered by something, you know, you're pissed off about the guy to cut you off on the way to work. You know, you're bothered by what your sister in law posted on Facebook. You're bothered by what's happening in the government. You know, you're bothered by the guy that didn't or did or didn't wear their mask. You know, like whatever's going on, you're bothered by something. Okay? You could be bothered by something physical. You know, you've got a, your back is bothering you. You know, you stubbed your toe, it's bothering you. You've got real physical stuff going on. It's bothering you, but you're bothered by something. All right, this is again, think of all these, as all these different types of cars that are causing this traffic jam going on in your head.

Then you've got competing desires. Competing desires. You know, when people think overwhelmed, they think stress, they think anxiety, and they think, I don't have enough time for all the stuff that I need to do. Right. And we're just breaking it down further because a lot of times you just have competing desires. I want to make a ton of money and I want to not work at all. Right. Those are competing desires. So it's a matter of. Yeah, I mean, look, I think we all could probably raise our hand on that one.

It's a matter of being able to determine again, what you want about really looking at your ultimate life, what you want, and then start creating your plan and your strategy to align everything with that. But along the way, you're going to have competing desires. And this really comes down to decision as well, Right? How do I have my cake and eat it too? Is really what you try to figure out. You know, people say you can't do it, but if you've got competing desires, you've got to look to figure out a way you can and then have some give and take. If you realize that you can't.

Then.

Distraction. Good, good or bad distraction? Okay, you've got something. Like right now, I just flew off the roof. That distracted me. And we're looking outside for those of you that have been with me all last week and know we're, we're still. They're. They're up on the roof right now replacing the air conditioning. So we're still in here with portable units. Not to keep that story going on and on, but so look, you've got distraction, good or bad, right? So there could be distraction from, you know, you're trying to work, your kids are being loud, you know, you're trying to.

Do a live cast and someone's throwing stuff off the roof. Literally. I wish I could turn this around so you guys could see this happen in real life, in real time. So you got distraction, right? Social media, major distraction. Right? The news, major distraction. And there might be good stuff going on there. Or maybe you've got a. Maybe you've got a trip coming up. Maybe you're so excited about this trip or maybe there's this new car that you want to buy. I was talking to my neighbor and he's like, he was like, I couldn't stop. I was at work and I just couldn't stop thinking you got one of these, like, brand new supercharged Mercedes. Like, I forget what the model is, but like, badass car. But he's like, you know, I couldn't Stop thinking about it at work. It just was so distracting that I had to just go get it. Now, I'm not saying that that's a good solution to your distractions, but what I'm getting at is it could be something good or it could be something bad. So not all distraction has to be something bad, but it is causing distraction. That's part of the traffic jam. And then what we've got is. We've got really what I think is the most important part, part of all of it. Because this stuff, this stuff happens, right? You've got decisions that need to be made. You're going to get bothered by stuff. You're human. You know, you're going to have competing desires and you're going to be distracted. But what really matters is your story. The story that you're telling yourself about all this stuff that's going on, the story you're telling yourself about the traffic jam, right? I like to say, you know, sometimes we have problems. You know, we've got a problem like our crew didn't show up. There's no air conditioning in the place. We don't have enough money for this. We've got competing desires, we've got problems. We've got things that we need to figure out in life. You know, it's when you have a problem about the problem that things start to speed up. It's when you start to say, I shouldn't be dealing with this. I've got too much to do. If only my people could handle what I ask them to handle. If only someone else could help out around here, right? So your story on the overwhelm is so important and how you perceive it. So the reason I'm sharing with you, the how and the reason I'm sharing with you how we get to this place of feeling that there's just so much to do, so little time. How do I figure it all out? We first have to really look and say, okay, well, what. What's really going on here? Okay? Because there's too much to do and there's not enough time.

Is that fact or is that your story?

Right? Is it reality or is it things not being prioritized and scheduled? Right? And we need to. We need to come face to face with this. We need to come to terms with this. Because otherwise we just keep telling ourselves this story. We're playing a victim. I'm overwhelmed. I've got too much to do. I don't have the time. And, you know, something miraculous happens when you keep telling yourself a story. You really believe that story, right? I mean, whose story do you believe more than your own story? So if your story is, I'm stressed out. I don't have enough time. If only people could do what I ask them to do, right? I've got to deal with this. I've got to deal with that. That's going to deliver a whole different set of results and quality of life than the story of, hey, I've got a lot going on because I've got a lot going on because I'm making moves, I'm making stuff happen in my life, right? I'm shooting for a better life. You could very easily kind of sit around and not try to go after things, not push yourself out of your comfort zone. But you've got all this opportunity.

That when. The opportunity for the outcomes that you could really achieve in your life.

When you start thinking about all the steps, and then you start thinking about how much time you've got in the day, and then you start thinking about all your personal steps that you've got to do. And then on top of that, your story about it all gets involved and you start saying, this is so hard. This is so much. What do I need to do? If only this, if only that. You're stuck. Let's talk about how to get out of the overwhelm when we feel it, okay? And again, I want to.

Really emphasize here that overwhelm is not bad.

If you could recognize it and get yourself out of it, right? You could recognize it and get yourself out of it. Because then you start building strength in that area, right? You start gaining essentially competence. You guys heard me talk about the competence confidence loop. The more competence you get at something, the more confident you get, which you'll gain more competence. It's like, I literally was a couple weeks ago, somebody said, like, oh, I'm moving where I had a major, major live event last week. Some of you were there.

You know, got a lot of stuff just going on personally, a lot of stuff going on in the business. And, you know, had I tried to do everything that I'm trying to do.

I don't know, however many years ago, I would have been stressed out, I would have been overwhelmed. And you get to a place where you realize, you know what? I'm going to get this overwhelm in line. I'm going to get it in order, okay? I'm going to do the steps that I'm about to share with you, and then from there.

You prioritize and you move forward. Meaning I'm still Not sure that I'm going to have everything that I need to get done done by the time we move. But you know what? I'm doing everything I could do. It's in priority. First things first, I'll get to the next thing when the first thing's done, and I'll get to the next thing when that one's done.

While also maintaining my sanity. Right. While also saying, you know what? I know it's not for me, some of you, this might work. It's not. Doesn't work for me to stay up all night working on something and then be like shot the next day, you know, but have I woken up at 4am a few times over the past couple weeks to get ahead of some things? Yeah. Right. Because sometimes, you know, you've got a lot going on and you just got to get ahead of it. But the story I'm telling myself is making all the difference in the world. Because first of all, I'm recognizing what all of the stuff is that creeps in and I recognize the overwhelm right away. I'm like, okay, this is a problem. I've got to get rid of it. And.

You lay it out. I'm going to share with you what to do and you prioritize it. Then you just. Because sometimes you really might, you really might not have enough time to get it all done. That's a legitimate fact. That can happen. Most of the times it's in our mind, but other times, and if that's the fact, then you know what it is, what it is. Pick the top stuff that's going to make the biggest impact. Start with that. Stay focused. Protect your energy. Protect your focus. Don't allow yourself to make it worse by being stressed out and keep moving forward.

Hey, my friend, it's Louis and I'm just hopping in really quick to remind you to go get your free demo of Smart Moving Software. Smart Moving Software is a company that I co founded that is quickly becoming the leading moving software in the moving industry. And I'm super excited for you to check it out. So go get your free demo today. Just go to smartmoving.com that's smartmoving.com. sign up for your free demo and.

Check it out today.

So I want to share with you now how to get out of Overwhelm when you're feeling it. So the first step to getting out of Overwhelm is change the narrative. You know, when we talked about your story, you've got to change the narrative going on in your mind. We've all got competing desires and do this, no, do that. And some of them are our voices, some of them are other people's voices. But there's a conversation going on in the mind. And if the conversation is, oh, my God, I've got so much to do, I'm not going to be able to get this done. This is going to be so hard. If only I had this, if only I had that. Oh, I just. Or I'm just unorganized, right? I think that's the biggest BS statement around, right? You might be unorganized currently. Like, that might be your situation, but that doesn't mean you can't get organized. And so we've got to. Before we start anything, we've got to put it in perspective for ourself and say, you know what, what's going on here? What's going on is there's a traffic jam in my mind, okay? Let's not worry about how we got there. Let's not have a problem with the problem. Let's not go, why do I have a traffic jam? I shouldn't have a traffic jam, right? Let's just recognize that we have a traffic jam and that we need to take some steps to get out of that, okay? And so the first step after changing the narrative is do a brain dump. You guys have heard this before. Just get everything out of your head. Get it all out of your head. Get out a sheet of paper and every single thought that's crossing your mind, that's occupying space within your mental bandwidth, get it on a sheet of paper or a note in your phone. You know, there's no excuse these days. I don't have paper. I don't have a pen. Get your phone out and just dump it all out in the phone, right? Get everything out, everything you're thinking about once you get it out.

Now we want to categorize it, okay? Now we want to categorize it. We want to look at it and we want to say, okay, we need to categorize this stuff. What is it?

Is this a decision that I need to make? Right? Is this something that is just bothering me? You're bothered. Is this something that's just bothering me?

Are there competing desires here that I need to figure out how to balance and either do both or make a decision on how to get one done?

Is it a distraction like you literally might have on your brain dump? Like, can't stop thinking about that post that somebody posted on Facebook or Instagram the other day? Like, just. It's on your mind it's in your head. It's occupying space. You know, if you think about. They talk about Internet bandwidth, you know, you, only you. We only have so much mental bandwidth. So the more stuff that's in there and what happens is it's unresolved. It just stays in there, bouncing around, which is the bumper cars going on in your head, which is the traffic jam. Right.

And then. Or is it just your story? Right. Is it just your story? Meaning, you know, on your list, you might have. I'm stressed out about this. I have anxiety about that. Okay? But then you got to break that down even further. So we categorize the stuff, okay?

Then we need to look at each one of those, and we either need to take. We need to look at it and go, okay, is there willing action here or acceptance? Now explain what this means.

So I really believe that if you just kind of follow this concept of is there something. Like, if there's something that comes up, if there's some type of problem, and you just ask yourself, is there something I could do about this?

You take that whole list, is there something I could do about it? And if the answer is yes.

Then you need to say, am I willing to. To do that thing? Because sometimes there's always something you could do, right? But you're not willing to do it.

So if there's not some type of willing action that you could take, once you've categorized that item, whatever it is, then you got to accept it.

This could mean something in your. In your business and your life. This could be a permanent acceptance.

Or it could mean a temporary acceptance. I've accepted the fact that we've got no AC till hopefully today, you know, in other words, the guy was throwing stuff off the roof. Could I have stopped and walked out there and said, hey, please don't throw stuff off the roof right now? I wasn't willing to leave you guys to do that, so I had to accept it. So it's like with everything. With everything, we've got to stop. And I know this isn't an overnight switch, but it's a tool that if you bring yourself to it and you've got this information in a note in your phone, you could bring yourself back to a place. Okay, is there something I could do about this? What is it? Am I willing to do that? No. Okay, then you know what? I need to accept this. I need to accept that this person wronged me. I need to accept that.

We lost this big contract in the business. Doesn't mean it will happen, right? Away. But again.

We'Re trying to reroute traffic so there's no more traffic jam going on in your mind. Things are flowing again. Willing action or acceptance.

Now what we've got is we've got our mind saying, okay, this is just a traffic jam. I could solve this. Okay, I did a brain dump. I put everything there on a piece of paper. I categorized it all. I decided if I could, if I'm going to take some action or if I'm going to accept it. Now you prioritize, all right? Now you start prioritizing what really matters now, today.

You know, and there's a difference between important and urgent, right? And we've got to be able to blend those two and work first. Work on the stuff that's important.

Right? The most important stuff in your life is not urgent.

There's nothing right now that's. That's sounding the alarm for you to go, hopefully sounding the alarm for you to eat healthy, exercise, take care of your life, plan your weeks, plan your life, nourish your relationships. Like, that stuff's not going to be urgent until you have the heart attack, until someone walks out on you, until your business fails, right? So we've got to think about. When we look at priorities, we got to look at, okay, what's the important stuff? Then we look at what's, you know, what's the important and urgent stuff. That stuff obviously has to go on top. We've got to get that stuff done. And when you first do this, there might feel like a lot of important, urgent stuff. That's where you got to come back to the story. Every time you feel yourself getting stressed, you have to remind yourself, this is the story I'm telling myself right now.

And you've got to come back and just be able to talk yourself off of that ledge of overwhelm. Like, too much, too much, too much, right? And prioritize and start chipping away. Because you might have never done this process before. And when you do it for the first time, it could feel like a lot, might even feel slightly overwhelming, right? But you have to believe that on the other side of these steps, you'll be freer. And then the next time you need to do it, it'll be easier. It'll take less time to the point where, like, literally stuff pops up and you're just. It's not even. It's. It's unconscious competence. You're not even thinking about the steps. You're just not falling into overwhelm. Prioritize, then.

Think about the outcome you want.

Then list the action steps.

That list is full of so many little to do's. Take each one of those to do's. Each one of those things that you listed, and all the ones that are actionable that you're willing to take action on want you to write out the outcome that you want to get.

If we don't stay in touch with the outcome.

And there could be several outcomes that lead to one major outcome, you know, if we don't, we know what we want in our life. The ultimate outcome, right? You want to be rich and not have to work as much as you have to work, right? And have a be healthy and happy and have a great quality of life. I'm just kind of generalizing for everybody, right?

But then you've got other outcomes that you need to hit in order to be able to move towards that. So if we focus more on the outcomes that we want to achieve and less on all the steps.

Then.

We'Ll feel less overwhelmed and we'll feel more motivated and inspired and like we're doing it for a reason. You know, there were again, I battled this, and this month it's like. And it's felt great. It's felt great to be able to have the tools to put it to the test because I traditionally don't like to bring on so much into my life that I'm like, intentionally knowing that I'm putting so much on myself. Like, I just. I did that for years, and now I just kind of pace it a little bit better. But this past month, there was a lot. And there were many times where that overwhelmed popped its ugly head up and it was like playing whack a mole. Remember whack a mole at the boom, boom, boom. Just like knocking it right back down and getting back on with my day. And the reason this helped me a lot was to focus on the outcome. You know, all these little things that I've had to do and these little details.

And competing desires.

I've had to focus on the outcome, you know, literally coming home and, you know, there's still a lot to do just to prepare for the move. But it's like, okay, we know what's going on. We know what day they're coming to pack. We know what day they're coming to load. We know what's like, okay, I know it's getting close. However, these are the priorities. These aren't done yet. I'm gonna focus on these, and that stuff will happen when it happens. But I'm doing it for focused on the outcome. Right. I'm focused on being settled in our new home. I'm doing it, focused on the results of the program that I was creating.

And all of that just really helps pull you through as opposed to.

Focus on all the steps. Right. And that's why we don't want to take our to do lists and just have a to do list. We want everything that's on a to do list should have a higher level project that it's associated with. Okay, so this is how you start to get organized with it. You start to say, okay, all of these little steps, what are the outcomes? You know, it's probably only a handful, five to ten outcomes you're trying to get in your life right now. Major outcomes. And so if we list all those as a. As a. As a project or an area or a separate note, whatever it might be, and then list all the steps within that, then we could just look at the outcome. We could remember why that outcome is important to us. And then the steps are. Nothing like, you guys could handle all the steps. You could handle all the stuff.

It's just when the traffic jam happens, it's hard to go up against the traffic jam if you don't know how to unjam the traffic. That's really what it is. And it could debilitate you. You could be the smartest, hardest working.

Best systems, processes, all of that. The overwhelm will grab you by the ankles and it will hold you down, not to mention the stress you'll feel right around here. So we've got to get you out of that. We've got to make sure that you've got these steps. So let me just give you these steps, because this is. First we went over what causes it. Now it's like, change the narrative, okay? Brain dump. Get it all out of your head on paper. Categorize every single one of those.

Decide if there's something you're willing to take action on. If not, accept it and move forward.

Prioritize what needs to get done first, and then just start taking the action steps based on the outcomes that you're trying to achieve, not based on I got to do this thing. Everything that you need to do mentally, even before you do it, what's the outcome this is leading towards, Right? If you start thinking about all you've got to do to start working out, you're like, oh, man, I got to get workout clothes. I've got to get dressed. Then I got to drive to the gym. Then I got to go there. I got to wear a mask in the gym. And then, you know, I've got everybody's leaving sweaty stuff. I've got to wipe off the machine, I've got to get a towel, I've got to go in the locker room and change. Then I'm going to have to shower there. And the showers are like weird there. And I'm. Before I go to work, you start thinking about all these steps. What's the outcome? You want to feel good, you want to be healthy, you want to live long, you want to get in great shape, focus on that. And then the steps matter as much. You guys could handle steps. I mean, 100% you can handle the steps. It's just when we look at everything as steps, when we look at all the steps and that's where our focus is on this step, that step. The mind can't handle all the steps. Too many steps. But what it can handle is it can handle outcomes that you're after. And then you've got a list for each one of those outcomes of the steps that it's going to take to hit that outcome.

All right, my friend, what'd you think of that episode? Did you learn something new? Did it spark some ideas that you can implement your business right away? Did it get the wheels turning? Did you love it? If so, do me a favor, share this episode. Somewhere out there on social media where you know there's some people that will get value from it, make sure you hashtag the Moving Mastery Podcast or the we'll be able to look you up and find you on Instagram. Sometimes we just randomly pick a few people and send them gifts like free training T shirts, hats, swag, tickets to our three day seminars. So make sure you let us know you're listening and share what you thought about this episode out there on social media. Thank you so much for joining us on the Moving Mastery Podcast and being a part of this amazing community. And until we talk next time, go.

Out there every single day.

Profit in your business and thrive in your life. I'll talk to you soon, my friend.