Feeling overwhelmed at home and wishing you could “just get it together”?

I hear this from my clients often. They say that they are super overwhelmed at home. Whether it be because they have papers all over the dining room table, kids’ toys all over the living room, or clothes on that particular chair in the bedroom, it feels like they are constantly overwhelmed at home and can’t ever seem to get caught up.

I’m going to give you three tips for feeling less overwhelmed at home so that you can not only feel more relaxed in your space, but you can stay on top of things and never have them pile back up again.

How to Feel Less Overwhelmed at Home

ONE | Take on the thought, I can do that now.

You likely currently think things like…

I have so much to do.

This never ends.

I can’t seem to get caught up.

I don’t know where to start.

I’ll do that later.

But it’s important to see that those thoughts are creating a feeling of overwhelm and are not having you take action towards tidying up your home. Instead, they cause you to be in inaction and do nothing, or do things like go from room to room, task to task, all while feeling frantic and not actually completing one task.

When you think, “I’ll do that now”, it prompts you to knock out tasks. I recommend thinking this thought with small tasks to start. Examples of this might be:

• Putting the mail away when you bring in it.
• Washing the dishes as you cook dinner or right after.
• Making the bed when you wake up.
• Replying to a text when you get it versus storing it away in your mind for later.
• Putting the laundry away when it’s done.
• Hanging clothes up instead of leaving them in a basket.
• Putting kids’ toys away right after playtime.

TWO | Stay focused on one task at a time.

Our brains are easily distracted and we believe we can multi-task. We actually can’t. Your brain can only do one thing at a time. You might think you can multi-task, but what’s happening is that your brain is jumping back and forth to and from all of those different things and trying to process it all at once. It takes a lot of mental energy and effort. Instead, here’s how to stay focused on one task at a time:

1. Decide the task you are going to complete first.
2. When you are tempted to switch tasks, pick up your phone, or walk away, simply catch yourself in the act and tell yourself, “I’m finishing this first.”
3. Get back to the original task at hand. The practice here is on redirecting your brain. Once you do this enough times, it will get easier. And you’ll complete many more things by doing this.

THREE | Know that overwhelm is only happening because of your thoughts.

The truth is, you aren’t overwhelmed because of the piles of papers on the table, the clothes in the laundry basket, or the dishes in the sink. Overwhelm is simply a feeling created by our thoughts. Those thoughts I mentioned above such as, “I have so much to do”, are thoughts that when you think them, you’ll suddenly feel overwhelmed. If you were thinking, “I can handle all of this”, you might be feeling motivated. So, here’s what to do when you feel overwhelmed.

• When you notice you’re thinking, “I have so much to do”, observe it.
• Don’t judge yourself for thinking that way or try to switch the thought.
• Simply notice that you have that thought and that it’s likely a familiar thought.
• When you’ve had that thought in the past, it probably hasn’t created much productivity, so we want to start noticing it now as much as possible.
• Make it a game. See how often it comes around.
• The awareness alone is powerful.

So, start there. See how it impacts the amount of overwhelm you feel at home. These small shifts will make a big difference. If you want a step by step guide that walks you through eliminating overwhelm now, download my free guide.

If you are ready to do this work on a deeper level and have your home be a place of peace instead of a place of stress, let’s work together through 1:1 coaching. I offer a free clarity call where we will craft a plan and I’ll show you exactly how we can do that together.