Guest Blogger: Jeremiah Shaw, Co-Founder of Grovity Leadership

I met a leader last week who was stuck in the weeds and left feeling overwhelmed and without vision.

As an executive leadership consultant and performance coach with full access behind many business leaders’ curtains, I can attest that you’re not alone. Feeling overwhelmed is a common challenge in today’s fast-paced work environment, especially for leaders juggling multiple responsibilities. But there is good news; here are three practical steps to help you manage and overcome that sense of overwhelm:

1. Prioritize and Delegate

We tend to be our biggest enemy when it comes to delegation. The key isn’t just learning these skills but reframing our mindset. It is a mental shift more than a skill shift.

• Trust Others: If you can’t trust others, you will never be or build what you could. To build trust, use the ‘Trust Equation’ from the book ‘The Trusted Advisor’ to do a quick self-evaluation about some of your blind spots in how you’re showing up for the team. I’ve copied the equation below.

• Prioritize Tasks: Identify what truly matters. Use tools like the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks by urgency and importance.
• Delegate: This is not just about assigning tasks; it’s about developing others and creating a culture of clear ownership and accountability, but you can’t do that if you won’t let go.
• Hire before you’re ready. All too often, leaders and business owners delay hiring help or bring in a firm like Remote COO too late. This costs them energy, time, money, and momentum, which they can’t afford to lose. The faster you can pass off these tasks, the faster you can return to what you do best!

2. Set Boundaries and Manage Time

• Establish Boundaries: Define clear work hours and stick to them. Make “no” your default. Leaders tend to make themselves too accessible to their people. Building boundaries builds respect and sets examples for them.
• Time Blocking: Allocate time slots for focused work, meetings, and breaks. This helps maintain a structured day and reduces chaos. Protect your calendar, or others will poach it with less meaningful priorities at no fault of their own. Your calendar is your responsibility. With that, leave unstructured time between meetings for any emergencies that pop up. I find that leaders tend to over-structure our schedules. However, most of our jobs tend to be solving last-minute problems, which can blow up an overly structured day. If you haven’t read Cal Newport’s books, start with the lessons in his book ‘Deep Work.’ There are some great takeaways regarding workflows.

3. Practice Self-Care and Mindfulness

• Self-Care: Ensure you’re taking care of your physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and relational health. Regular exercise, a balanced diet, adequate sleep, and ensuring family and friendships don’t get forgotten are crucial as your leadership grows. Above all be radically relentless when it comes to YOU and health.
• Mindfulness: Incorporate mindfulness practices such as meditation or deep-breathing exercises. These can help you stay grounded and reduce stress levels. Presence is vital to powerful impact. Reflect on old journal entries, laugh, and celebrate how far you’ve come.
• Show Grace to Yourself: Check your self-talk and ensure that you have empathy for yourself. You will have setbacks, make mistakes, and trust the wrong people. This is all a part of the journey; don’t overlook the lessons before you.

Action: Hopefully, you’ve uncovered one area that enhanced your self-awareness. In our coaching practice at Grovity Leadership, we strive to bring self-awareness; however, we believe that self-awareness without action is meaningless. With that, below are questions for you to self-journal, capture the learning, and take meaningful action.

• What is standing out to you about your work habits?
• What old habits might not be serving you well anymore?
• What is one action that you are most excited to try?
• What are you committing to? Be specific?
• Who is holding you accountable?

Jeremiah Shaw is the co-founder of Grovity Leadership, an ICF-certified performance coach and thought leader who helps scale leaders who work in industries that wear boots and jeans. You can learn more at his website and follow him on LinkedIn.