Feeling out of control? Stop, drop and organize

As if running a business isn’t hard enough when the market is stable, when things get rocky, it is easy to feel out of control.

Our job when navigating the ups and downs of business, especially when you are working on streamlining and scaling, is to live what Jim Collins called The Stockdale Paradox in Good to Great:

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” ​

If you feel overwhelmed, out of control or anxious, use a tool my Tiny Marketing Actions alumni know as:

Stop, Drop and Organize

Here is how it works:
​
Sit down away from your computer with a pad of paper (or an electronic tablet with a pen)

Take a nice deep breath and get quiet (you can place your hand on your heart as you take a breath)
​List out everything that is in your head. Include finances, errands, conversations you need to have, projects and work items.
​Scan the list and circle the items that are in your control and are realistic to accomplish in the day (or hours) ahead of you.
​Look at the list of remaining items and tell them (aloud if you wish) that you promise to look at them again tomorrow.
​Create your short list of action items and get busy.

It is very important to set aside the long list and just look at the short list of action items front of you.

Science supports the power of making a list, evidenced by these studies:

1. Cognitive Offloading

Research Support:

Risko & Gilbert ( 2016 ): Described how writing things down frees up working memory. This is known as cognitive offloading—reducing mental burden by storing information externally (like on paper).When you make a list, your brain no longer has to juggle multiple tasks or worries, which reduces anxiety and mental fatigue.2. Perceived Control Reduces Anxiety

Research Support:

Lachman & Weaver ( 1998 ): Found that a greater sense of control is linked with better emotional well-being.Lists provide a sense of structure and predictability. This perception of control—even if it’s just over your day—can lead to an immediate decrease in stress.3. Reduces the Zeigarnik Effect

Research Support:

Bluma Zeigarnik (1927): Identified the Zeigarnik Effect—the tendency to remember uncompleted tasks more than completed ones.Making a list turns vague stress about “unfinished stuff” into a finite, manageable set of actions, reducing cognitive tension.

Whether you do it to test the science, or just to stop your head from spinning, I promise you will feel better when you Stop, Drop and Organize.

Pretty soon, you will work this tool into your monthly and weekly routines, and will feel an ongoing sense of ease, calm and control.