How to deal with being overwhelmed?

I was talking to my friend today and he was totally overwhelmed with all the things that are going on in his life. Recently, all these different projects for work started to show up and fall on his lap and he was unprepared to handle it all. I see this happen with a lot of my friends and sometimes even myself. And what's the solution. Obviously is to set up structures to have it all work. As my other friend says, I'd like to have my cake and eat it too. But instead of making a huge to do list and be paralyzed when you're looking at it, there's something to do before that. What there is to do is create a context. Why are you doing these projects?

This isn't the first time I've heard this question before, but there's a twist I'd like to add to it. First, a lot of people will say that they want to be financially free, be wealthy, have freedom... But all of that, is fluffy stuff. It's not something tangible. And what will happen, majority of the time, is the motivation from your why that has you push through all the projects will quickly disappear. Mainly because it's not something you can hold onto, it's not specific and there's no time frame about it.

So here are my guidelines for the WHY.
One, set up a time frame of what you want accomplish in 1, 2 or 3 months. 3 at the most.
Two, set up specific results. Like my last post, I'm looking to generate $15,000 by September 2nd, 2010.
Three, you want to make sure that your result is going towards the bigger idea of your why. Mine is to know that I can do it. And from that point will come freedom, happiness and joy.

There you go, 3 simple steps to increase the effectiveness of your why that no one ever told you about!

Playing to expand the experience

Recently this week I noticed that there was something off for me. There was a certain way I was doing things, completing my tasks and producing results. Just to give some background information, I work for myself as a Real Estate Investor - so I work on my own time. But with no boss, being my own boss is sometimes hard and even difficult. There will be the usual comments that will let me off the hook from making phone calls, scheduling appointments and returning emails. At that point I am producing no results and worse yet, no money. So what is there for me to do about it. What was missing that would make the total difference in how I relate to working for myself.

I pondered and pondered and even called my friend Mike about it, and I got it. I didn't have anything at stake for my everyday activities. There wasn't a driving force behind what I did. Some people in the training and developing world say that it's your "why" and frankly I don't care what it's labeled. All I know is that if I don't have something at stake in what I'm currently doing, my experience of what I'm doing is just ordinary. I don't get to be the super power that I know I can be and have been. With something on the line, I step up the game. Things don't get over looked, I start being intentional, efficient and effective. It's like all of a sudden, because I said that I want to make $15,000 in 3 months and have my life be about myself instead of focusing on others first, every action becomes about making that happen - no matter what action. Be it for business, training for a 10k or even supporting friends. Everything gets done completely and fully.

Once I did that, the next day was a total shift. Things did get done and some more. I had one of those days where I worked really hard and slept like a baby because I was on my way to produce the results I wanted!