87. Overcoming Strategic Overwhelm: Boost Your Productivity and Find Focus as an Entrepreneur

00:00:01
Hello and welcome back. This is the Grow my podcast show. My name is Deirdre Tshien and co founder of Capsho, and I'm going to be joined by the one and only Bona Rai, my co founder. Hello. I feel like you always introduce.

00:00:16
Well, I always introduce you that way, which means that you always have to do your sultry. Oh, the sultry voice. You haven't heard my sultry voice. We'll work up to that, shall we? Okay, so, as you can tell, this episode is probably going to be a little bit different.

00:00:33
It's going to be very much a conversation between Bona and I, and it's actually going to be a three part series. And I'm gonna be honest, the reason why I thought of doing it this way, there was actually no thought put into it, as you can tell apart from me. And I did say this to Bonna, I'm like, I just feel creatively tapped out right now. I did also, because Alex Sanfilippo messaged me. He's like, I really want you on Pod talks.

00:00:58
And I'm like, can you just tell me what to talk about? Because I also told him I feel creatively tapped out. And this is something I think that is, okay, we can go through this as creators, as podcasters, as entrepreneurs, especially where you're trying to run a business, and then each and every week and even day, you're trying to think about what value should I now add to my audience today or this week? It's a lot. It's a lot.

00:01:27
And so I, for the past few weeks, have found myself in this little trough of creativity. And so I was like, well, you know what that means. We're just going to wing it. I will say, I think you also put a lot of pressure on yourself, talking about adding value, to have a really well thought out, structured presentation, even if it's a conversation, you kind of like to have that for yourself, but also, I think, for your listener. And to your point, when you are feeling that you're feeling tapped out, giving yourself permission to be like, hey, let's still maybe try a different way to keep it consistent and hopefully, maybe juicy back up.

00:02:06
You never know. I mean, no promises, but this could work. Well, that's why Bona’s bringing the sultriness, because I feel like need to be actually sultry. Who do we have on the line? All right, okay.

00:02:20
Let's get into some actual, hopefully some value. Because, I mean, look, tell us, do you even want value? We're also happy to just hop on the mic and give you absolute nonsense if the votes swing that way. Hey, we're here for it, too, but for the purposes of this show, but this particular show, we're going to try to hone it back into some value. And I think this kind of ties into even what I've been feeling, and I think what a lot of us have been feeling as we get into the end of the year, especially, I don't know if it's just this time of year or maybe it's just always this state of overwhelm.

00:03:05
And specifically, there's like a couple of types of overwhelm that I found because I'm trying to break it down. I mean, there's many types of overwhelm, but specifically around what it is that I want to talk about today and maybe next week is kind of like this strategic overwhelm. Yes.

00:03:25
I think for me personally, I used to, okay, when I first started my coaching business, even when we had our agency, there was this period where I would consume so much. Like, I was like listening to Tony Robbins over there, and I was listening to this coach and that coach and these podcasts, and I was just like, consume, consume, consume. And I think it was right at that time for me to be in that state. But now I've just gotten to the point where I'm like, I can't listen to any. I've literally listened to one audiobook.

00:04:00
So Ten X is easier than two X. I am now, I think, on my fourth go on it, because I've just decided that I'm like, I'm going to stop listening to a boatload of books and I'm just going to focus on one. And I'm just going to keep listening to it until it's like I'm living the things. And that's not to say that you, dear listener, have to be listening to Ten X's easiest and two X. I guess what I'm trying to say is that's an example of me feeling strategically overwhelmed and just needing to find a way to focus on the one strategy that I'm going to follow.

00:04:32
Now, that might not be the right strategy for everyone, right? I'm not here to dictate that, but it's more the premise, it's more the thinking that went into that. I don't listen to as many strategic podcasts as I used to. I've really gone more towards fiction as well, just reading and listening to more fiction based things, because I think I just need to give my brain a break. Yeah.

00:05:00
And so I don't know. Hopefully that resonates with some of you if you're feeling this strategic overwhelm, because I know, know, Bona, you've had conversations with other entrepreneurs as well, who've said something similar, maybe not in exactly the way that I described it, but yeah, totally different situation. But someone that comes to mind is a conversation I had with someone who's new to the capture open community. Tay. And he was talking to me about how he's a really phenomenal creator in the space of personal finance, knows a lot about his topic, and I guess he was feeling overwhelmed around.

00:05:36
Okay, so content creation is one thing, but marketing is this completely different beast. And now I've gotten myself in the situation where I'm creating content that's really helpful and I'm getting really great feedback and engagement and all of those things. It's like, oh, but there's all of these other things now I need to do. And one thing that I've observed, even in those two examples, is either you get in strategic overwhelm, either because you are a very strategic person and you enjoy it, which is great, but you're trying to almost create or find the strategy of all strategies, or you may not be strategic in that particular thing you're consuming content around. So in Tay's case, he was talking about how marketing is just not his thing, and it has to be if you're wanting to monetize in some way, whatever that pathway may be.

00:06:23
And it's that overwhelm of, like, I don't know anything. I'm not strategic in this space. And both of those situAtions, I think, creates a lot of shoulds, right? If it's natural for you and you're thinking, you think about it so much, so much and so much like yourself, or if it's not natural for you and you're just like, I don't know where to start. I'm just going to maybe keep consuming in the sand.

00:06:45
Exactly. Or not do anything. And we were having a particular conversation about email marketing, because in my mind, I'm like, maybe just like, at the moment, he's like, I'm just sending them to my YouTube videos. And his YouTube videos are great. I was like, maybe just get them to opt in to something.

00:07:01
And he doesn't have a course yet, but they could be the people that you tell about what you're building or ask them for feedback. And he's like, oh, that's a great idea. Now I've just added another idea to me. I'm sure many that he's been given. But I think that's that overwhelm where you're like, oh, I should be doing that.

00:07:17
And should I also be on other platforms and should I be doing the shoulds just really kind of. Then 40 minutes later, you feel great about all the things you could do, but then you feel stuck because what is the next step I should take? And you get paralyzed. Yes. And that's actually, like, a good friend of ours, Alex.

00:07:38
So she was also. I remember when we caught up with her a few weeks ago, and she was just like. She was, like, slumped in her seat. Oh, my gosh, I cannot. It's like the will to do anything.

00:07:53
And I think it comes back to that, right? Because she was doing probably even at an insane rate. I was like, hats off to you. The rate at which she was, like, reading books and listening to podcasts and just consuming, I was like, I could not do that. And then we were at this catch up, and she was like, I'm so tired.

00:08:18
I'm so exhausted. And this is kind of what it came down to. It's like, stop. Because I think that where the exhaustion comes from, and I know it comes from for me, too, is in the shoulds. Like, you hold all of these shoulds.

00:08:33
Like, you hold it in this place, I think, in your brain, in your body, wherever. And because the shoulds are so. They're almost poisonous in a way, they really are. Right. And we need to find a way to just get rid of them.

00:08:49
And I feel kind of guilty because even this podcast, like, even the Grow My Podcast show, I'm trying to do something good, and we've been trying to do that even with our guest masterminds and our challenges, because all I'm trying to do is, because if you know anything about us and our journey, you know that our values, like, the two core values we have is success and delight. Right? How do we help our Capshovian succeed and delight them in the process? And I think I was so fixated on the help them succeed, I was like, let's just keep teaching them, and we'll keep giving, like, maybe having experts talk to them. And I forgot about the delight because there's a balance in that.

00:09:29
Like, you can only delight when you provide the space to do that.

00:09:36
Where was I going with this thought?

00:09:44
This is a totally unstructured. Oh, that's right. Yeah. So I feel guilty because when I look back at, even though it comes from a good place, like, where I'm like, I just want to help you guys it's actually at potentially people's detriments because they come up to these things or they listen to each week this podcast, or they come each week to the mastermind or each month to a challenge, and they're like, this is just another thing I should be doing, and there's another thing I should be doing, and there's another thing I should be doing. And I just don't have the time or the will or the headspace or whatever it is, which is totally fair.

00:10:17
And so right here, right now, this isn't exactly the point of this particular episode, but I do want us to give ourselves the permission to use this consumption if we want to consume as inspiration, not as this is the way you have to do things. Yeah, we're not trying to build up your to do list, but I do want to talk about hopefully some other ways that we can also give ourselves the permission to shelve the shoulds. Oh, that's. Shelve the shoulds. Yeah, I like that.

00:10:51
That's going to become a tagline. Yeah. A T shirt for sure. Yeah, shelve the shoulds. Shelve the shoulds.

00:10:56
All right, so let's talk about this strategy over one piece. Because I think you were going somewhere really good. Where? I'm surprised by that, by the way, Bob. Once you were going somewhere and that place was good.

00:11:13
Okay. Real time feedback. So one part is, there's a few ways that I think the strategy overwhelm manifests itself to your point. Right? Either it's not an interest, it's like nothing you ever really want to do.

00:11:32
Let's say it's marketing or it could be anything really. But you know that maybe given because of limited resources or whatever, generally it's going to be limited resources. You can't hire someone to or get the help that you need in that space, so you have to do it yourself. But you get overwhelmed because it's just not a natural thing. It's all of that.

00:11:57
So that's one. And if you're in that bucket, I hear you. We all resonate because we all have that part. I personally love marketing, but gosh, there are a ton of things that I would not be able to do. So that's one part or one reason you can get overwhelmed.

00:12:15
And then the other is probably where I sit in because I love it so much. I'm like, give me more. I want to know more of this stuff. But then it gets to a point where it's just overflowing and that creates overwhelm so wherever you are in there, trust me, we get it. And we're going to talk to maybe some tips.

00:12:35
It's not really a step one, step two, step three thing. This is just more things that I think we've been thinking about and we've been trying to implement around how we shelve the shoulds and try to, try to, I guess, manage that overwhelm, because it's never going to go away. Let's just be honest with ourselves. We're human, right. But how do we manage it as much as possible?

00:12:57
So I guess the first thing is to recognize that you do need a strategy. Yeah, unfortunately, you need one. Well, fortunately, unfortunately, because I'm a very strategic person. So for me, I Think that's a fortunate thing because it puts structure in my mind. I think about a lot of things.

00:13:15
Literally my brain just can't shut off. I have to now think about things to force my brain to shut off because it just goes at a million miles per hour. But a strategy actually does help me center myself. So I guess that's the first thing, is that you actually need a strategy. I think recognition of that is huge.

00:13:40
And to your point, I would say most of our audience being entrepreneurs, the problem is that we have a lot of thoughts. I mean, humans have a lot of thoughts, but entrepreneurs especially, because whether it's a bunch of shoulds or whether a bunch of like I want tos or a bunch of I need tos, they're all swimming around. And to your point, regardless of whether you identify as a strategic person or not, or as it relates to marketing, you think you're strategic or not. To your point, a lot of this is about externalization of your internal things, right? So externally, it's a fact that you need a strategy, and it's not a belief you need to have, it's a fact.

00:14:15
But instead of seeing this, I think, to your point, you can get yourself into overwhelm because you're trying to consume absolutely everything that could be strategic and come up with something. You need to find something that you feel good about and commit to that. And I think the shelving part of it is going, hey, this is not forever, but I'm going to commit to this for a period of time and close off the other loops. I think that's a really whatever ritual you need to do to celebrate that and acknowledge that, but to be like, yeah, in six months time, in twelve months time, I can change it, and that's okay, but I'm going to commit to this for a period of time. Yeah.

00:14:52
And the other thing that actually helps me around having a strategy, because a strategy is one thing. And by the way, the word strategy, actually, do you think we should define that? I mean, I don't really have a good definition of strategy because it can be very wrought with like, well, I think this is a strategy, but sometimes it's more of a tactic. But then a tactic in and of itself can also have a strategy of how you. So it's a bit weird.

00:15:20
So for me, when I think about strategy, and I'd love to get your thoughts, Bonna, on what you think strategy is. But when I pull it apart in my own mind, it's like a strategy is knowing almost the pieces that you need to implement. And I don't say should like you need to implement. And I don't mean today, I mean at some point and how they actually fit together. So how do they puzzle piece together and how do you sequence them out driven to an outcome?

00:15:54
Like, obviously the strategy needs to. I think that's a starting point. Right. Like, what's the result? What's the outcome that you're trying to get?

00:16:01
And then here's the strategy to get there. But the strategy itself has different components to it and there's a sequence in terms of implementing that strategy. I love that. I was thinking some coming along the same lines almost. Strategy is like a sexy word for plan, right?

00:16:20
Because a lot of us think plan can feel. We're like, oh, just a project plan over here on Excel. But I think that's right. And the three things that pop to mind for me about what makes it a strategy, I think, is knowing the why. There is a how and the when, which is, to your point, the sequencing of things and where it just becomes a list is like, these are all the hows and everything.

00:16:44
When is like now. Yes. Whereas a strategy is, you understand deeply the why because people skip the step all the time and you have to keep on reinforcing that. You understand the why because the why changes for you, perhaps. And the sequencing of the hows.

00:16:57
I think that's where we get stuck, is we go, I understand all the hows and they were meant to be done yesterday, so I'm going to do it all today. Yes, and because we're really keen to get to the why. Right. We're really keen to get to that results. So I think that's why that happens.

00:17:14
Okay. So this is kind of like understanding what a strategy is and what it means to you is probably a really good first step. And really good tip. And then I guess because what I found is that when I can do that, and I know the component parts, funnily enough, it actually gives me the permission to then ignore some of the things. Look, granted, not everyone is like this, so I'm just kind of saying it, telling it from my perspective, but I'm very much like a person who, and that's why I think I used to consume so much, is because I was like, I need to have mastery in all of the things.

00:17:53
And then I'll think about implementing it, because mastery is what gives me the confidence. Right. And mastery doesn't mean that you've mastered the actual thing. Mastery just means that in my mind, you've read everything. Exactly.

00:18:08
I'm like, oh, there are no other books or podcasts about this topic. Okay, I must be a master at it now. Sensei Didri. Yes, exactly. And that's not what it is.

00:18:22
That has a whole host of its own problems. But I think what I've realized is, because I have gone to a relatively high baseline, because I guess I've gone through that training period of consuming and definitely trying a lot of things, et cetera, that for me, I'm like, okay, I now have this strategy, this framework, and I'm talking very much from a marketing perspective, right. Because that's my thing. So I'm like, okay, I've got my traffic pyramid and I've got my bridge. Anyway, I've got my scale sandwich.

00:18:58
It all hangs together. And to me, so in my mind I'm like, okay, it's neatly now in its component parts. It's in each of its drawers. In the cupboard or whatever. Cupboard have drawers?

00:19:08
No, I don't think so. Okay, we'll keep going. Yeah, they do. Now, my cupboard has drawers, which may be the first problem. All right?

00:19:22
There's all those component parts. And because they have their place and I can just see it. So each time I can open that drawer and I can see. Sorry, I can open the cupboard and I can see each of the drawers. That this analogy is not working.

00:19:35
I'm still committed to it. Yeah, you open the cupboard, you see all the drawers. And I know, I'm like, okay, well, I can shelve that should, as in, I can shelve that particular component or part or draw of the strategy, because I know it's there. I can see it. I'm like, I see you.

00:19:54
I know at some point I'm going to have to pull you out. Your time has not come yet, but it is not today, because I am. Whatever your reason is. You're incubating. That thing is incubating.

00:20:04
Yeah, exactly. It's not ready. It's marinating. So the jaw itself is also marinating. It is juicy.

00:20:08
How much juicier is it when it's marinated? I agree with that. I like it. Yeah. So that's actually in this really counterintuitive way, by knowing the.

00:20:20
By being able to see the full picture of the strategy. It's actually helped me a little bit with overwhelm because now I'm like, okay, I know that there's a lot that needs to happen to implement this thing, this beast of a strategy, and it's never going to be finished. Let's be honest. No strategy is ever, like, neatly, you're done, move on. Yes.

00:20:43
No, it never works that way. But knowing that I can be like, okay, these drawers is now my priority list, and I'm going to put some of the drawers at the bottom because of whatever reason. And that reason could just be because I don't want to. I don't feel like it. You know what?

00:21:07
Not for me. Not right now. Like, you know, on Instagram, I see you, but I don't want to. I believe you're a thing, just not for me. Yeah.

00:21:17
You're a component in the strategy. I get that. I acknowledge it. But, yeah, I'm just going to close that drawer. I'm going to shelf.

00:21:23
That should. And I'm going to focus on that. So much shell on the ones that I've committed to, on the component part of the strategy that I've committed to, because it's still part of everything that I'm doing is still part of the whole overarching strategy. But I'm going to give myself permission to not have to implement every single thing that I know. Yeah, I like that.

00:21:48
Because I think definitely for someone who might resonate more with you, where you're saying they think about this all the time, they've consumed all of the frameworks. There's a certain joy in kind of bringing it together into a cupboard of drawers and knowing all the component parts and almost how they might. Should link together, but then kind of rearranging it to what suits you because you understand yourself and your business and for people who are more in the. I would never be able to paint that picture together. I think that's why it'll be really great for them to see that to go, okay, these are actually how these talk to each other.

00:22:22
This is how it's meant to work. And it's okay to get help with that. I think that's the thing. Sometimes you feel like as an entrepreneur, you should also be obsessing about marketing strategy all the time. Some of us are, just not it.

00:22:34
That's not me. I'm an implementer. I enjoy, but that's why we work so well. So it's okay for me to say, hey, I'm really lucky my co founder has worked this out. We can look into the cupboard together.

00:22:44
I'm going to defer to you as the marketing strategist here, and it's okay to lean into that and be like, cool. Now I didn't have to think about this. I can just focus on making the decisions around the drawers. Yes. Which is where you're actually required.

00:22:58
Yes. Now, the other thing, too, and I think we might end on this one, is a big trap that we fall into, is mistaking a tactic for a strategy, even though I think what we said before was that each tactic has a strategy. Like, let's not mistake that. So each tactic has a strategy, but a tactic in and of itself is not a strategy. That's a really important distinction, because if we kind of go, yeah.

00:23:24
To your point, even when you're implementing a tactic, which is important, you need to know the why, the how, and the when. But that whole thing is not the overall strategy. Yes. For example, I mentioned Instagram. To me, Instagram is a tactic in my overarching marketing strategy.

00:23:42
Right? It's one piece of this very, very big pie.

00:23:49
But we all know that in order to have Instagram as a channel work for us, it has a strategy in and of itself. And this is what we mean. Right? So Instagram itself is not a strategy. It is very much a tactic.

00:24:02
So is any other channel podcasting as well. Totally a tactic in a marketing strategy. But there's a strategy to how to podcast. I mean, this whole podcast show is about that, right? There's so many strategies, so many tactics to how it is that you can make the tactic of podcasting work.

00:24:25
There's no one is better than the other. And that's why I don't want us. And I hope that this is coming through, is that the last thing I want is for this show to be overwhelming you with all of the things that you should be doing. It is just here to give you inspiration, because some people might be like, oh, you know what? I really vibe with SEO.

00:24:44
And so I'm going to hear those episodes that Deirdre's put out on SEO, and I'm going to implement those things. But other people are like, I have no idea what SEO even stands for, what it spells out, all those things. But you know what? Email marketing is my jam. So I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to implement the things.

00:25:10
And that's what this is here to do. It's to give you inspirations, maybe to fire some thoughts that maybe you hadn't thought about before, but it is not okay. Put it on your to do list. Just know. Just know that it's there and shelve it right.

00:25:24
That's what it's about. Love that. So I guess this episode to wrap up because it was kind of, we didn't really have a starting point, so I guess we should have a semblance of an ending point is really about, I guess, at the end of the day for me, and I'd like to get your thoughts bonnet on what your big takeaway was, is that it's okay to give yourself permission to shelf particular things and to say no to particular things. But I think it's only really effective to give yourself that permission when you can see the picture of what it is that you're trying to get to. Yes, I think this is.

00:26:03
I couldn't agree more, especially on the last point, because part of the reason why we're so bad at giving know, we tell ourselves, but we don't understand the implications of the decision we're making because we could be, because our brains are still going, oh, I'm probably ignoring a really big opportunity, like being on YouTube, being on any platform. So I think it's really, really important to do the work to understand the impact of the decision that you're making, and then that will give your brain the rest. Because then, for example, with Instagram, we've decided not to be on it in quotation marks. And then we talked about it. It's like, well, you don't enjoy being on it personally, even just in your personal life, and our audience isn't on there.

00:26:40
That's a huge thing to understand the why. But knowing where Instagram fits in the overall strategy gives us that comfort to say, cool, that's just not going to be something that we're going to invest in. So I think just going that extra step to say when you do make that decision to your point, knowing where it fits in and the actual implication of it will go a long way. Yes. And I have some thoughts on, okay, can we bring the.

00:27:02
We're going to make our next episode about tactic overwhelm and I'm going to pull on this using Instagram as an example. I'm going to pull on that thread because there are a few nuances, even to what Bona just said then, that I do want to delve into to help each of us make these decisions about what we should and I shouldn't say could, what we need to shelve. That's a good hook. Even I'm intrigued, and I think I'm part of it. You sure are.

00:27:31
All right. Okay. So that's it from us today. Let us give us some feedback. Maybe being creatively tapped out was a good thing for this podcast.

00:27:39
Let us know. Please go to the show notes. There's a. Leave a comment or a message thing there, and I love hearing voice notes. So leave a voice note.

00:27:50
Yeah. Tell us. Give us some feedback about how you found this episode and what and whether you're feeling any of this as well. Let's be in this together, shall we? All right.

00:28:05
This is Deirdre. This is Bona. Stay awesome.