Have you ever had that feeling of not being able to do a single thing? It’s not that you’re unwell, or that you don’t have anything to do. The issue is that you are overwhelmed. There is just too much to do, and you don’t know where to start. 

Being overwhelmed can feel like being stuck. Stuck feels awful. We have limited control when we feel stuck. It feels like things are being done to us, and it can feel like there is no way out. 

We may be feeling this ourselves, or as leaders we may be working with someone in our team who is experiencing this. In fact, it may present as a performance issue because we are unaware of why we or they are feeling this, but it is affecting performance. 

Often associated with this feeling of being stuck, is a sense of anxiety. We become concerned with the “what ifs.”   What if I am not able to undertake the work? What if others judge me? What if my performance is affected? What if this effects my reputation?  

How can we productively use this feeling of overwhelm and turn it into something positive?  

I love Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi’s work on happiness, and more specifically flow. That feeling you get when you are “in the zone.”  You are completely immersed in what you are doing. You are enjoying it and you are getting a high level of satisfaction from it.  

Csikszentmihalyi describes eight characteristics of flow that we experience when we are in this state.   

• Complete concentration on the task; 
• Clarity of goals and reward in mind and feedback; 
• Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down); 
• The experience is intrinsically rewarding; 
• Effortlessness and ease; 
• There is a balance between challenge and skills; 
• Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination; 
• There is a feeling of control over the task. 

You can see from the image above, that before we get to the state of flow, we have anxiety and arousal, or relaxation and control. We can get to flow by travelling in either direction.  

When we are challenged by something new, and we don’t yet have the required skill level we can experience anxiety and stress. This can be positive if managed and controlled. In fact short bursts or feelings of stress can prime the brain for improved performance.  Alternatively, if we have the skill level but we are not being overly challenged, the relaxed state can help us to be open to learning new things. When we feel in control, we may be happy to increase our challenge level.  

Knowing what helps you to get into flow can be particularly useful in moving from a feeling of overwhelm to flow. 

Do you need to vary your challenge level? What support do you need to do this? Who can support you? What do you need from them? Can you reach out to them? 

Do you need to vary your skill level? What capabilities do you need to focus on? How can you prioritise what you need to focus on? Is this aligned to your bigger development plan? 

Knowing what drives our motivation and performance will help to address the issues before you get into a state of overwhelm. 

Whilst feeling overwhelmed is not pleasant, it can be the exact thing we need to feel that encourages us to try a different approach. The key is to being aware and then addressing the issue so you can go from overwhelm to flow. 

Rita Cincotta writes, mentors, and speaks on individual and team performance, leadership development, resilience and new ways of working. She works with organisations to develop human centred solutions that help people and businesses to thrive. 

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