#221

When overwhelm strikes, our instinct is usually to fight fire with fire.

We plan harder.

We write longer lists.

We tell ourselves we’ll tackle it all when we “get on top of things”.

We buckle down and push on through.

We drown from the proverbial firehose.

But here’s the paradox:

The antidote to overwhelm isn’t necessarily to do more – maybe it could be to start something underwhelming.

Something so small, so simple, so effortless, that your brain can’t talk you out of it.

When everything feels like too much, it’s rarely the volume of things that paralyses us there’s always ‘volume’ ahead of us - it’s the feeling that we have to fix it all.

One leader I coached recently said, “I just don’t know where to start.”

I replied, “Then start where it’s easiest.”

Send one message.

Write one sentence.

Walk around one block.

Tick one box.

Do one thing that’s small enough to start - and easy enough to finish.

Momentum doesn’t come from grand plans.

It’s born and raised in micro-moves.

A single underwhelming action breaks the trance of inertia.

It reminds your nervous system that you’re not stuck – you’re just starting.

So, try this easy experiment.

Next time you feel overwhelmed, resist the urge to scale up.

Scale down.

Do something so underwhelming it’s almost laughable.

Because progress rarely begins with impressive.

It begins with probable then builds possible.

Reflective whispers:

> What’s one small, underwhelming thing you could start right now?

> Where are you mistaking size for significance?

> What would feel easy, effortless - and still count as progress today?