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Speaker 1: Everyone, it's Cauli here for this week's Mojo Monday. So

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about the feeling of overwhelmed today.

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Speaker 1: When we're feeling overwhelmed by the amount of things that

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Speaker 1: we need doing, or by a situation which evokes a

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Speaker 1: lot of emotions, it's so easy to start to spiral

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Speaker 1: into a panic. We know that our emotions are incredibly powerful,

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Speaker 1: and when they show up, we tend to get very

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Speaker 1: caught up in them, which means that we can become

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Speaker 1: ineffective in what we're doing. And for a lot of people,

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Speaker 1: this feeling of overwhelm can lead to freeze mode, so

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Speaker 1: you end up doing nothing that's on your list, and

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Speaker 1: you can end up scrolling aimlessly to avoid that feeling

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Speaker 1: of overwhelmed or whatever your avoidant strategy is. And we

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Speaker 1: know those things yeah, okay, they tend to work in

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Speaker 1: the very short term, but they don't work in the

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Speaker 1: long term or actually doing things but not as well

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Speaker 1: as you could because your nervous system is really overloaded.

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Speaker 1: So the first place that I'm going to suggest that

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Speaker 1: you start with is noticing your language. So what you

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Speaker 1: say to yourself can act like a primer for your brain.

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Speaker 1: If they're in a dialogue sounds like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: I've got so much to do. This is hard. I'm

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Speaker 1: just feeling completely overwhelmed. It's like, where do I start.

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Speaker 1: Your nervous system is going to sense threat, and when

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Speaker 1: it senses threat, it does its job. It creates a

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Speaker 1: stress response, and that's what it's there for. But in

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Speaker 1: this case, it's not helpful for getting through our to

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Speaker 1: do list. So what I find really helps is a reframe.

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Speaker 1: And this is one that I use a lot when

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Speaker 1: I'm feeling overwhelmed. So I acknowledge the feeling of overwhelmed.

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Speaker 1: So I'm feeling overwhelmed right now, So it's there, what

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Speaker 1: do I need right now? And almost always the answer

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Speaker 1: is actually structure. So structure reduces that cognitive load. It

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Speaker 1: gives your brain fewer decisions to make. So I do

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Speaker 1: a full brain dump of my to do's. I put

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Speaker 1: everything down there. I put the stuff I need to

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Speaker 1: do for work, for my personal life. I put it

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Speaker 1: all down just into I put it in two columns,

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Speaker 1: and then I decide what actually needs to be done

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Speaker 1: today and what can wait until tomorrow or another later day.

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Speaker 1: And then I time block those tasks into my calendar,

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Speaker 1: so I'm not keeping them in my head, which is

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Speaker 1: very needed for me because my memory is shocking as

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Speaker 1: I have gone through metapause and so I really need

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Speaker 1: to write everything down. But anyway, that's a bit of

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Speaker 1: a digression. So the next thing to do is when

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Speaker 1: I start attach, I set a timer for twenty five

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Speaker 1: minutes and I focus on one thing only, so just

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Speaker 1: that task, So I turn all notifications off on my mobile.

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Speaker 1: And seriously, if you think about this, you think about

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Speaker 1: turning your notifications off because this can be challenging for

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Speaker 1: a lot of people. You and others will be okay

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Speaker 1: if you're not contactable for a short period of time.

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Speaker 1: And I was thinking about this, it's like, why do

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Speaker 1: we allow ourselves to be distracted when we have important

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Speaker 1: tasks to complete. If it's about your kids, you put

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Speaker 1: them on the emergency setting so they can get through

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Speaker 1: to you, but let them know that you're having some

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Speaker 1: focus time. But everyone else can wait. So I really

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Speaker 1: suggest that you try that. And then when the timer

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Speaker 1: goes off after the twenty five minutes, I stand up

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Speaker 1: and I move. So this might be a short walk,

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Speaker 1: a stretch, a few squats, stepping outside, looking up at

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Speaker 1: the sky, having just a mindful moment, taking a few slow,

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Speaker 1: deep breaths, and this is my reset. This is filling

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Speaker 1: my energy bucket. If I'm feeling low in energy and

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Speaker 1: I have stuff to do, I have to be proactive

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Speaker 1: in refueling it so I can then get back to

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Speaker 1: the tasks. So this process of time blocking is called

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Speaker 1: the Pomodoro technique, which many of you would have heard,

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Speaker 1: and it's really effective for overwhelmed, for focus, for energy,

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Speaker 1: and of course productivity, and there's really good research behind

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Speaker 1: this approach. So sitting for long, uninterrupted periods is linked

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Speaker 1: to reduce cognitive performance, poorer mood, and low energy, and

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Speaker 1: even brief movement breaks improve attension, working memory, and emotional regulation.

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Speaker 1: And regular movement increases our blood flow to the brain

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Speaker 1: and helps regulate our stress hormones. Movement isn't a distraction

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Speaker 1: from productivity, it actually supports it. And when your mind says, oh,

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Speaker 1: I don't have time to stop and move, I'm deep

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Speaker 1: in work here, that's often when movement matters the most.

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Speaker 1: And this is especially for those people who are hyper focused.

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Speaker 1: So you might get a lot done sitting for hours,

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Speaker 1: but your nervous system and energy can really take a hit,

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Speaker 1: and over time that catches up and it can lead

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Speaker 1: to burnout. So next, I just want to talk about

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Speaker 1: overwhelm as not a thinking problem, and this really matters.

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Speaker 1: Overwhelm isn't solved by more thinking. It's resolved through action,

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Speaker 1: through doing small, purposeful actions while letting that feeling be there.

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Speaker 1: So you don't need to feel calm to start. You

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Speaker 1: don't need to feel motivated first to start. That will

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Speaker 1: come from starting. You just need to start. So if

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Speaker 1: you're overwhelmed today, try this, Name what you're feeling, create

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Speaker 1: a structure, do one short block of focus work using

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Speaker 1: the Pomodoro technique, take movement snacks in the short break,

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Speaker 1: and then repeat and that's often enough to shift that

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Speaker 1: whole state from feeling overwhelmed to feeling more in control

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Speaker 1: and to be constructive and productive. So it's not about

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Speaker 1: fighting these overwhelmed emotions, it's by working effectively alongside them.

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Speaker 1: So experience. Just experiment with these approaches and see what

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Speaker 1: works for you, and good luck. Have a great week everyone.

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Speaker 1: I'll see you next week. By