Practical Ways to Deal With Being Overwhelmed by One Big Problem

Step-by-step framework to break through an overwhelming task and take action.

A pile of clothes in a dark room looks terrifying until you turn on the lights. The same goes for problems—they are only overwhelming because you haven’t defined them yet.

Unfamiliarity is the cause of overwhelm

Unknown is scary until it’s known. That applies to pretty much anything.

Overwhelm is not triggered by small, nor by familiar things. That leaves us with 2 things—the problem you are facing is:

1. Unfamiliar.

2. Big.

Difficult? Only if you think so. Now we need to deal with 1 and 2.

Unfamiliarity remedy

The opposite of unfamiliarity is clarity. One of the things I can’t (and won’t) shut up about. Read: lack of clarity stops you from making progress. Instead of just telling you stuff, here’s an actionable framework:

1. Pen + paper + timer for 5 min. Write about your problem. Don’t think, just dump thoughts on paper. If you haven’t finished in 5 min (which is the point) take as much time as you need. Write until your head is empty.

The previous step was for “initial clarity”, think of it like wiping a fogged-up car window. Now you see the road but don’t know where to drive.

2. Break things down into parts you can understand. Identify the actual steps you need to take. The first step will often be filling knowledge gaps.

Now the simplest but hardest part.

3. Take action.

Buffer time

The time between getting educated and solving the problem.

In between those 2, all that information you have consumed is settling in your head. Be aware of this process and be patient.

Do the right thing today and the problem will be easier to solve for tomorrow you. You can’t speed up clarity. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is go for a walk.

Control what you can control

“We cannot control the external events around us, but we can control our reactions to them.”—Epictetus.

In other words: Stop f*cking worrying about what you can't change. Your brain loves to obsess over hypothetical disasters, other people's actions and unchangeable past mistakes. It feels good, even productive sometimes, but it solves nothing and leads nowhere.

The bigger picture—look at the past

Huge problems of today will become smaller tomorrow, and smaller tomorrow, and so on.

It’s often not that the problem is difficult, it’s that you have to deal with it now.

Don’t believe me? Write down your five biggest current struggles on a piece of paper. Put it in a drawer and forget about it for 3 months. No immediate effect but you need to start somewhere. When you check back, you will realize that what felt overwhelming then has either faded or been solved.

The point is—your current problems will vanish for the future you if you face them today. Something that is a pain in the ass today will be laughable in 3 months.

Make it a regular practice. Write, schedule a check-in, forget. In 3 months you will have a nice reminder of the progress you have made.

Framework to make things clearer and more digestible