Busy and Overwhelmed? Maybe You Should Add Something Else to Your Plate

I work full-time, I have two young children, recently completed my PhD in law and have several publishing commitments that I’m trying to finish in my free time.  On paper, I don’t need to add anything to my already very full plate so when my sister asked me to look at starting a side business with her, I was thinking: “Are you kidding me?”

I was talking to a friend about my sister’s side business and my friend wanted to try the sample my sister had sent me: “Why not, right?”  My friend loved the product, so I jumped in with my first customer.

Starting a Bucket List Item Got Me Out of Overwhelm

Although adding another thing to my very busy life seems like a bad idea, since I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur, this opportunity has helped me check “starting a business of my own” off my bucket list.

Although adding another thing to my already full plate seems intuitively like a bad idea, it has helped to turn my life around at a time that I was feeling very overwhelmed and stressed out. Prior to starting this side business – in addition to all the things I had on my plate – our family had experienced two very sudden losses of loved ones and it had taken a toll on me physically, emotionally and mentally.  My new (ad)venture brought many thing into my life that I had been missing, including:

• Excitement – I was excited to learn about new and different things from anything I had ever done before.  I have been learning a lot about sales and marketing and using skills that I developed in other areas to build my little business.
• New dreams – I started dreaming again about a more positive, fulfilled future for myself and my family.  I started focusing on positivity and self-development, which is just what I needed at my time of overwhelm.
• Less stress – I immediately started to feel less stressed financially and more hopeful about the future.  In launching this new business, I was taking control of my finances  I also deliberately changed my self-talk from: “We can’t afford that” to “We will be able to afford that soon.”  This small shift in self-talk and perspective really started to turn things around for me.

Repurposing My Time (Goodbye Candy Crush!)

Starting the side business did add something more to my plate, however, I was able to repurpose time that I had been spending on other unimportant things (like Candy Crush!) and use that time to build a business. In the same 14 waking hours I have in each day, I am able to use my time to achieve something I’ve always wanted to do.

Oh…And Did I Mention the Ripple Effect?

By the way, within five months of me starting this venture, I managed to draft the last 3.5 chapters of my PhD dissertation and hand in the full draft!!!  Coincidence? I don’t think so!

Having the courage to start checking things off my bucket list reinvigorated me and got me excited about my life again.  It also had a ripple effect and helped me complete other things much faster too.

P.S. Several other friends who ended up starting up a side business recently also quickly dove into to checking off their lifelong bucket list items.  The courage to make a bold move seems to create an amazing momentum to keep people moving forward with courage, excitement and passion!

Is there something that you have on your bucket list that you’re really excited about?  Post a comment below – we would love to hear about your bucket list items! 

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