Let’s be honest, as a virtual business manager there are times when you’ll need some strategies for reducing overwhelm.
Virtual Business Managers are highly paid partners in our client businesses. Therefore it stands to reason that, particularly in those first three months with a new client, the pressure is on. We’ve noticed this in our own team when pairing VBMs with new clients. Reaching out to senior members for support definitely helps but here’s some other tips to help you cope. And please, let us know your own overwhelm-busting tips in the comments below and we’ll share them with our VBM community.
23 Strategies For Reducing Overwhelm
- Time block your VBM clients, one day each per week.
- Review and plan tomorrow at the end of each day.
- Schedule short breaks during work hours. Set a timer for one hour blocks and get up and move between blocks.
- Schedule a wellbeing hour into your day to move, eat, relax.
- Get those worries out of your head by journaling 10 minutes at beginning of each day following the 4 Ns:
- Notice what you’re thinking
- Normalise your thinking
- Neutralise your inflammatory language
- Next best thought
- Relax and don’t work on your days off/weekends!
- Get the sleep you need to function at optimal level.
- Practice good nutrition and drink lots of water.
- Limit alcohol to weekends (gasp!)
- Delegate whenever/wherever you can.
- Set boundaries for yourself and your clients.
- Ban negative self-talk which can trigger a stress response.
- Assess urgency of tasks – emergency, urgency, busyness (noise).
- Give yourself permission to say “no” or “let me get back to you”.
- Don’t take on more than you can handle, be realistic about what you can accomplish.
- Under-promise and over-deliver.
- Turn off device notifications so you can work undisturbed when you need to.
- Stop multi-tasking!
- Practice deep work.
- Use clarity breaks to brainstorm issues/problems
- Ask for support from a fellow VBM, mentor or someone who understands the pressures you face.
- Be very clear with your clients around their expectations and what you will accomplish this week, month and quarter.
- Communicate often and honestly, this in itself reduces anxiety. For both you and your client.