I’d like to think I don’t get overwhelmed easily. But the truth is, I do. And it’s usually after a long travel day.
My last trip was 13-14 hours, and it took days to recover. Even when I felt I was back at 75%, my brain was already racing, thinking of all the things I needed to do to get back to 100%. The list of what I needed to catch up on starts to pile up: tending to my business, getting my body moving, grocery shopping, meal prep, laundry…all the things.
The problem is, I want to do it all at once. My mind was pulling me in so many directions that I ended up doing nothing at all. I was stuck.
This cycle of wanting to do everything and doing nothing is a bad habit, and it’s something I’ve learned to recognize.
If you’ve ever felt this way, this post is for you. I’m sharing five ways on how to break bad habits, starting with getting your mind on board first.
Quick note: Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy. No extra cost to you. I only link to things I’ve used and genuinely think is worth it. [Full disclosure here]
Identifying My Hostage Habits & Building a Better Way
1. The Digital “Just In Case” Habit
As an online solopreneur, I’ll be the first to admit I used to be a digital hoarder. I gathered anything and everything I thought I’d need to build my business or track my health. My virtual rooms were filled with digital shelves of tools, online courses, templates, and resources all unorganized and collecting dust.
Honestly, if my librarian avatar could talk, they probably would have cussed me out. My sorting system was a joke, and a project that should have taken a few hours could easily stretch into an entire week.
What’s worse is I was a hoarder of digital things. I believed I could use these things “sooner than later”. That then turned into a distant future. This digital mess, from my external hard drives, email inbox, to my phone apps, was a massive time suck that made me feel guilty and inefficient.
That negative self-talk, that feeling of not getting anything done, was the real hostage. And that’s why I had to tackle my digital life first before I could ever find calm in a busy life.
I finally shifted when I got so frustrated. Tired of starting my day feeling mad at myself, I decided to take small, intentional steps instead of trying to do it all at once.
My new mindset came from reading Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. It helped me see that being intentional with my digital life, from my phone to my files and apps, was the solution to feeling less quilty and more efficient. The book’s philosophy helped me realize that my “just in case” hoarding was a form of technology using me, instead of the other way around.
These days, I have a dedicated “admin day” on Fridays to tackle one or two things at a time. I use a simple rule: if a new email is a resource, I save it. If it’s a sales email, it’s trashed. For my digital files and phone apps, the ones that just sit there collecting dust, I ask myself: “Do I use this? Do I use this now and often?” If the answer is no, it gets deleted.
As for the resources I keep, my saved emails and digital files, I sort them into ‘filing cabinets’ on my external drive. My phone apps are also organized into folders on the home screen so I know exactly where everything is. It’s still a work in progress, but taking those small steps has made all the difference.
2. The ‘Unfinished Learning’ Habit
Building a business you love can easily become a rabbit hole of learning. When I started out, I was determined not to say, “I don’t know.”
In my mind, I would always say, “I don’t know that answer yet.” That drive led me to join every online community, follow every guru, and buy every course and resource that promised to show me the “how.”
The fear of missing out, or FOMO, was real, and it had me buying into everything without a second thought. Before I knew it, I was overwhelmed. My virtual library was packed with unread e-books, half-finished courses, and tools I never used. This was the “burden of potential,” and it felt heavy.
There’s nothing worse than that FOMO feeling pushing you to buy something you think may help, only to find out it’s steps behind where you already are. The truth is, all of that digital learning was just collecting dust, a constant reminder of things I hadn’t done yet.
I had to stop. I got so frustrated with all the digital noise that I realized I needed to start “cutting the fat” and get rid of what didn’t serve me. It definitely was a challenge to that “more is better” thinking, and Greg McKeown’s book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, gave me the push to do it.
The biggest lesson I’m still learning is this: I need to constantly be learning, but that doesn’t mean I have to constantly add to my resources.
These days, before I sign up for a newsletter, a course, or an online tool, I stop and do an assessment. I ask myself: “Is this something that pertains to me now in this phase of my business or personal growth? Is this something I can refer back to?” If a course is outdated or doesn’t align with my goals anymore, I delete it. This is a continuous work in progress, but being strategic about my resources has made all the difference.
3. The ‘Task-Switching’ Habit
I’m a “do-it-all” person, so I used to catch myself jumping from one task to another all the time. It was that feeling of wanting to do everything at once, driven by shiny-object syndrome.
This constant task-switching is what people often call multitasking, but the truth is, it’s just a lack of focus. It doesn’t work. I lose my focus and spread myself thin, only to end up circling back and cleaning up my own mess. It was especially bad when I first started my business.
It’s frustrating because nobody tells you about all the variables and components that go into building something. In my case, it was switching gears between building a website, creating a blog post, and a digital product. The mental clutter of a workday that’s all over the place left me feeling stuck.
To fix this, I batch my tasks. I batch not only my work tasks, but my personal tasks, too. Chores like laundry, cleaning my space, and grocery shopping generally happen on a Saturday. Sundays are for rest and self-care. I protect that time so nothing else takes away from it.
For work, I break down projects into weeks and the process gets broken down into stages. This allows me to see what tasks will flow together. I use my calendar, a Pomodoro timer, and a task management tool like Airtable to break everything down.
My calendar is key for blocking out the different parts of my day, while a Pomodoro timer keeps me focused on single tasks within those blocks. I use Airtable as the central hub to break down big projects into smaller, manageable stages so I can see what tasks will flow together.
It’s not always perfect, but it’s a blueprint that helps me. For instance, my day (Monday – Friday) is blocked out: 5:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. for my morning routine, which includes movement, breakfast, and journaling. 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. for work, and even that big block is broken down into smaller, batched tasks. This strategic planning has helped me stop multitasking and finally get things done.
4. The Pressure to Be ‘On’ All The Time Habit
In the beginning, I had this constant feeling of needing to stay on top of things, meaning I had to produce new content for people to connect with. This felt like a fast-fashion label, sacrificing quality for quantity because of that fear of being irrelevant, outdated, and not giving it my all.
I would get sucked into the rabbit hole of “do this,” “do that now”, and “this is what’s trending.” I got so caught up in it that I wasn’t able to see that I wasn’t building a solid foundation. My mindset was in scarcity mode, not in a monetary sense, but in a sense of relevancy and wanting to be seen and heard.
This went on for more months than I’d like to admit. I created so much content because I was so focused on quantity that I ended up scratching two blogs before this one. Nothing was aligned; my messaging was all over the place. I was frustrated, questioning myself, my passion, and just plain irritated.
It took me months to finally get frustrated enough to say, “Hey, go back to square one.” I was no longer a total beginner, but I had to admit I’d learned something from burning down two blog websites.
I jumped off the hamster wheel and grabbed the most fundamental tool there is, a blank page. In my journal, I built a blueprint for my business, revisiting my mission and my everything.
It helped me stop worrying about time and being irrelevant, so I could instead focus on my purpose. Now, I create content that is meaningful: I focus on who I can serve and how I can serve them. My goal is to provide true, relatable, quality content that I’ve experienced myself.
5. The “I’ll Do It Later” Habit
I used to procrastinate on everything in my life, from my personal tasks to my work. My go-to excuse was always “I’m tired,” which is even an understatement. I was the person who let the dishes pile up and left laundry sitting in the washer or dryer for longer than it should have. There were moments I had to do another wash cycle because my clothes smelled more funky than they did before I washed them. Funny, not funny.
As for my work life, I would, and still sometimes do, push off organizing content, notes, and ideas. Everything would be everywhere, which would then take me more time to sort out, just like my personal stuff.
I broke this habit with the realization that doing it now will save me more time and less headache than if I were to wait. Doing it later is a loss of opportunity, freedom, and peace.
This mindset is what helped me come up with a few simple rules. For laundry, I set a timer. When the wash is done, the timer lets me know, and I get up to either put the clothes in the dryer or fold them immediately. For dishes, I wash them while I’m cooking or right after I’m done eating. I just remind myself that I can spend less than 10 minutes here and there to prevent things from piling up instead of spending a long time tackling a mountain of stuff.
Finding Your Freedom
After all of this, I’ve gained a new sense of freedom. Free from being frustrated, irritated, and tied to the excuse of not doing enough or doing too much. I’ve realized that not taking action is an action in itself, so I act more by taking action. For me, simplified living is freedom.
So, here’s my advice for you: Do something. Pick one habit from this post that frustrates or irritates you and do something, anything, no matter how small. Your goal is to take a single step that gives you a feeling counter to that frustration and irritation.
What’s that one habit for you?
