The sense of being overwhelmed is incredibly common. It’s that feeling of treading water, being hit by a 50 foot wave, or attempting to throw a punch without being able to lift your arms.

First, don’t blame yourself. Some might say you should actually welcome the feeling – it means you’re challenging yourself and growing.

But you can’t let it get the best of you. If you allow struggle to manifest into stress, you can ultimately impede progress and prevent yourself from succeeding. The good news is that there are easy ways to avoid this. And regardless of what you’re working on, by applying these simple philosophies, you’ll find that you can both increase confidence and achieve happiness:

1. Keep the Big Picture in Mind, Avoid Minutia

So you’ve got a home business, part-time job, and you’re going back to school 20 hours out of your week. Over time, you might find yourself getting caught up in your thoughts about each project, one after the other. Naturally, the finer details of things will start to blur and you’ll stress yourself out. What am I missing? Am I underperforming? There’s too much to do! 

Sure, it’s tempting to want to retrace your strategy, in detail, in your head, but the truth is, it can be a time wasting and destructive process. Simply put, you’ll psych yourself out – leading to doubt, a confused sense of purpose, and ineffective execution. Keep the big picture in mind, and if you feel that you’re starting to feel overwhelmed, try these few strategies:

• Map it out. Rather than a list, consider visually mapping out  your strategy. I enjoy Mindnode for this very reason: I’m able to quickly and easily build organizational charts and flows of my ideas and projects. Then, when I want to reflect on my strategy, I can do so with a visual aid, helping me feel like I’ve got my bases covered and things are churning along correctly.
• Master distractions. Each part of your project has the potential to be hindered by something or someone, but it’s how you deal with this that defines value to the distraction. Practice acceptance and don’t get caught up in being upset that you’re being pulled away from the task at hand. Take a deep breathe and ask yourself, is this really necessary? Know when to say no.
• Master new responsibilities. If it is, you have responsibility to complete it. Assign priority I’ll add them to the proper part of my schedule. If it’s barrier for completing another part of your project and it’s fresh in mind, knock it out quickly.

2. Enable Yourself to Succeed

Too often, we will think we want something more than we do. The deciding factor is whether we adjust our lives to actually pursue the goal. If you really want to become a graphic designer, for example, then purchase Photoshop and dedicate 7am-8am, everyday, to learning something new. Only by adjusting your budget, schedule, etc., to accommodate your goal will you actually achieve that goal. If we don’t do this, but continue to want to achieve the goal, then you’re going to end up feeling beaten and overwhelmed. Ask yourself if you really want this, then put yourself in the position to actually go and do it.

3. Understand that health really does equal wealth

Even if you’re of the philosophy that our souls are only “renting” our bodies and if you’re going to go, then go hard, you’d be wise to follow this guideline. It’s appealing to want to never stop working and burn the candle at both ends, but your work and your health will suffer if you overdo it. To me, it comes down to these 4 simple rules:

• Eat whole, healthy foods. Just say “no” to fast food. It’s just as cheap to prepare fresh food at home and twice as rewarding.
• Avoid excess sugar. Seriously. Just avoid it.
• Moderate substances. Caffeine, alcohol, whatever it is – if you overuse it, you’ll start developing a chemical dependency, ultimately distracting you from your goal.
• Take time to reward yourself, rest, and recoup. ‘Eight hours/night at least six days/week’ is my standard rule. Add in an epsom salt bath and night of reading for good measure.

(I experienced the brunt of this truth in college, when lack of sleep, overuse of caffeine, and stress caused a strange clicking noise in my chest. The doc’s at UCLA recommended I cut the caffeine and get more sleep. I haven’t heard the ominous clicking since.)

Now execute.

When you’ve got your big vision mapped out, your tools in hand, and your body and soul well maintained, you’ve find that the road to success, while painful, is ultimately rewarding. Now go execute on your next item.