When You’re Overwhelmed

Watch the episode here:

• Do not dwell on what you could’ve done
• When you think too small, you can get overwhelmed
• Figure out the right questions to ask
• When you think big, you can overcome it

What shakin’. Hey, I’m Rick Jordan today. We’re going all in. Yeah, we are. We really are. Is that, 

Oh, man. I feel like there are some people listening to this right now that are just feeling overwhelmed. Do you know? And that’s not like some crazy voodoo stuff. It’s just like statistical, no joke. Whether it’s a job, whether it’s family, whether it’s a relationship, whatever it is, you know, there’s a, there’s a lot of stuff going on in the world right now, and you take a look and you’ve got right spy balloons going overhead. And you know, this isn’t even talking about like stuff in your own home, but you’ve got, you know, North Korea, North Korea shoots a missile, right? Ju is just as like a, taunt in ic b m if you don’t know what IC b m is, it’s an intercontinental ballistic missile, right? To show like, Hey, we’re warning you don’t come closer here. Because there were some drills that the US was doing with, uh, with South Korea. 

So it was just like, a warning shot. Like, Hey, hi, we’re still here. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world, you know, it, it can seem very oppressive, but then when you get down to your own life, it’s like, what, what are you facing right now? What’s going on? You know, what, what do you feel like you’ve got walls that are just closing in on you and no doors, to walk through to get outta that room that just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller? That’s a shitty feeling. I know. Cause I, I’ve been in there and I get to the point to where it’s like one you try to figure out, like, and, and this is a mistake by the way, you try to figure out while you’re in that room that’s closing in on you how you got into that room to begin with, right? 

And that only just goes down this spiral of thought and then you start to beat yourself up over it because you start to believe me, like the, when the room’s closing in on you and you start to think, how did I even get into this? It’s like right away you can come up with this stuff to where it’s like, man, this is where I really screwed up to get into this situation. But then you start thinking about how you could have done things differently and how, you know, things might have looked better if you had made a different choice and whatever this was, and I’m telling you right now, that’s the wrong path of thought to go down because where you’re at right now is where you’re at. And the only way to get outta that room is to look forward because you freaking create a door and move forward in this. 

Because, if you keep thinking that way you will feel very overwhelmed because that’s a very small way of thinking when you continuously think about how you got into that situation and what you could have done better. It’s a very small way of thinking. When you feel overwhelmed, I’m telling you, I’ve probably said this before when you feel overwhelmed, at least when I feel overwhelmed, it’s usually because I’m actually thinking too small. And it’s like you’re analyzing decisions leading up to that point on how you messed up. And it’s not to the point of trying to come up with a different solution because the only way to come up with a different, better solution to create that door, to blow a wall, blow a hole through one of those walls that are closing in on you is to come up with something completely different. 

And it might take a lot of work. You might have to, you know, build a tool. You might have to come up with something just, just ingenious at the moment to try to get through that and out of that. But that’s the thing is shifting your focus between what was and what is right now into what could be. That’s the only way to do it. And you might think that it’s like super hard to get outta that because you might be at this point to where you, you’ve got like no more room and those walls are so tight on you and you have no idea how to get out. Even if you look up, it’s like even the ceilings coming down on you. It’s like, man, it’s gonna take so much work. Maybe I just give up in this scenario. Are you looking ahead and maybe you actually come up with that idea and you’re like, wow, I love this because this is gonna solve my problem right now. 

But that’s a lot of work. I don’t know if I’m up for it. Well, it’s time to do something better. It’s time to think of something bigger, some kind of different way. I’m gonna tell you a story. Years ago when I was in Hawaii, I was in, uh, Honolulu, right, uh, on the island of Oahu. And I’m, I’m taking a look, you know, I’m actually there in the ocean and I’m taking a look around. I’m at, you know, a great resort. It’s a phenomenal resort. I’m taking a look around and looking out at the ocean and then I look over and I see, uh, I think it’s diamond head, the mountain. And I’m looking up on the top of that mountain, there are people actually on top of the mountain, right? They’re, you know, a good like a thousand feet above me, 2000 feet above whatever it is. 

And looking out in the ocean, I’m like, man, that view has gotta be freaking amazing. Gotta be absolutely incredible. But then what I see is I look towards the bottom of the mountain and on the side of the mountain I see all these individuals that are like hiking up it. And I’m thinking to myself, it’s like, well that sucks. Like, I’m not a hiker. First off, I don’t want a hike. And if you, if you’re a hiker and you’re listening to this and you like that kind of stuff, that’s awesome. You go for it, right? Because to me, there are certain things that I will apply myself to and a lot of things I’ll apply myself to. I usually consider myself one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker in the room that I’m in. Depending on if it’s my company or anything else. 

It’s usually I am the hardest worker in the room. Always been that way. So it’s not that I’m adverse to, to hard work, it’s just adverse to hard work that I typically don’t like, but even more, so that I can come up with a way to get around it and still accomplish what I need to, or maybe even have it even better than what I need to. So I’m looking up at this mountain and I see these people on the top. It’s like, well that’s crazy. And then I see, cuz there are helicopter tours all over Hawaii, right? I, I took one a couple of times, it’s amazing, you know, seeing waterfalls and everything else, and I see a helicopter go by, I’m like, huh, well why don’t I just, just get one of those <laugh>, you know, if for real, if if I’m looking up the side of the mountain and it’s like, you know, in that split second and I’m thinking, well, I don’t wanna hike, but if the outcome that I’m reaching is way up there and I want to see that view, there’s probably an easier and faster way to do it if I can figure out the right question to ask, which is how do I get up there easier and faster, right? 

What’s a method? What’s a tool that I can use? What’s a, what’s a different way of doing something? Because at that moment it’s like I’m looking at the little people hiking up this mountain, you know, that’s great. Maybe they’re having fun. I betcha some of them weren’t. Because to me hiking sucks. I just don’t like hiking and I’m looking at them trying to get up this mountain and it’s awesome. It’s a great accomplishment and everything like that. But you know what, if I can do something in a faster, simpler way, I love the simplicity and I love speed because I move fast in everything that I do, including business. It’s like, let’s get the obstacles out of the way. And to me, all those little rocks that you gotta climb over when you’re hiking can be obstacles. So if you’re thinking, it’s like I gotta put one step in front of the other, one step in front of the other, and it’s like you feel overwhelmed because you get halfway up the mouth, it’s like, oh my God, I’m tired. 

And you start to feel overwhelmed because if it’s like a, a, a situation that you’re in where you’re talking about like those walls are closing in or if you’re on the side of the mountain and waves are crashing against you, you think you’re gonna fall off. It’s like, oh, I got so much more to go, but if I don’t press on, I’m gonna fall off. And you become overwhelmed. It’s like, how did I get into this situation, to begin with? And you start looking back, it’s like, well you started hiking up the mountain. First off, that was the first mistake. I’m laughing inside by the way. You know, cuz it maybe, maybe not hike, but you start to analyze the past decisions that you made and you become more overwhelmed. Instead of maybe just looking up to the sky and seeing that helicopter go by and now all of a sudden you’re thinking bigger, you’re thinking faster, you’re thinking more simple. And immediately that sense of being overwhelmed will go away immediately because now it’s like right there and it’s like, that’s my way to go. It’s not even necessarily your way out, it’s your way through because your way out. If it’s a way out, you’re just avoiding the situation entirely and you learn nothing. But when you can think bigger, when you feel overwhelmed, it is because you are thinking too small. 

When you think big, you will be able to come up with a way through that is faster, simpler, and more fulfilling. And I started looking at this helicopter, I’m like, shoot, that’s like helicopter mindset. If I can come up with the way I’m gonna build the freaking helicopter, I’m gonna go buy a helicopter, I’m gonna figure out how to pilot that thing and then I can go to the top of any mountain that I want to. You see the metaphor, and I don’t have to go through the hike. I don’t to potentially like break my ankle over something. I don’t have to deal with rock slides, I don’t have to deal with all these other things because I just avoided all these other risks that would’ve overwhelmed me at the moment and maybe potentially even killed me because I thought big. I’m no longer overwhelmed. I thought it simplistic. I’m no longer overwhelmed. I thought speed was faster. I am no longer overwhelmed.

Go ALL IN.