Dear Founder,
I’m sorry you’re feeling overwhelmed. Unfortunately, this is a normal feeling for most of us. The important thing is to realize that this is a momentary state. By shifting into action, you can get rid of this uncomfortable feeling.
A couple of personal stories from the mundane to the very strategic:
Just a few weeks ago, I had a very early start to the morning as I had a two-hour commute to San Francisco for an 8 a.m. meeting. I got up extra early, dressed and rushed down to my office to do a few critical emails before taking off. My email was locked up and as I attempted to refresh, it was not recognizing the correct password. I had a serious head cold and was feeling bad. “Why is this happening to me?” I thought. I took some deep breaths, recycled my computer, and got everything back to normal. Sometimes, in stressful times, even the smallest issues can seem insurmountable—but when you take a step out of the moment and implement the action necessary to solve it, you find these issues never are impossible and not worth a fraction of the grief they caused.
Last week, I was executing on a long-planned surprise birthday party for my wife in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We had family and friends flying in from all over to help celebrate. My family had all arrived by 5 p.m. and we were heading to dinner at 7 p.m. where all our friends would also surprise my wife. At the same time, we were in the middle of negotiations at Salesforce to buy Demandware and I was heading the M&A committee. I thought I had everything well managed as we had a 2 p.m. call for the Salesforce board. Plenty of time to get everything under control. But then, the company asked for more time to consider. We got a call at 5:30 p.m. asking to have an emergency board meeting at 6 p.m. We were 25 minutes away from the restaurant where the party would take place. Why was this happening to me? I explained the situation to my family (they’re used to these “bomb-ins” by now) and gave a precautionary heads-up to the person running the party. We drilled down on what was necessary with the board and managed to keep the board meeting brief and stay focused on accomplishing what was needed. We got to the party on time and the surprise went off without a hitch. But I was definitely feeling stressed and overwhelmed and it certainly wreaked havoc on my blood pressure!
The whole Yahoo! journey, which I can’t really talk about, has had lots of moments where being overwhelmed was a very real possibility (activists shareholders, core business not turning around fast enough, damaging external press, etc.). However, the one thing that kept everyone sane is that the board was very aligned around not doing the forward spin and instead moving forward on selling the company. It was the shift to action—rather than focusing on all the negative possibilities—that removed much of the feeling of being overwhelmed.
In most cases, the first reaction to something that is frustrating is to focus on how this is not a great situation and to ask, “Why is it happening to me?” This kind of thinking, while natural, is not conducive to getting the situation solved. I wrote another letter about what to do if you’re in a crisis, but I’ll share the Cliff’s Notes version here: start taking action and focus your energy on resolution.
In almost all situations where you feel overwhelmed, follow this five-step plan:
- Slow down
- Ask questions
- Get your bearings
- Develop a plan that you believe in
- Start taking proactive actions
Recognizing that feeling overwhelmed is an emotional state, and that it can be overcome through a measured, practiced approach, has been one of the skills I’ve benefitted from the most over my career (I’ve had several jobs that have had lots of crises and drama in them—I’m not sure why I’m so lucky). For more on this topic, David Rock’s book “Your Brain at Work” gives a fantastic overview of the cognitive limits of the brain.
At this point, I don’t need to actually have achieved improvement to get rid of the overwhelmed feeling; I just need a plan that I believe in and that I can start executing. Things that have worked for me:
- I proactively manage my calendar and my to-dos. Anticipate as much as possible. Ask yourself, what’s likely to interrupt the most important things? Develop ways to absorb the bomb-ins.
- I don’t expect perfection on all of my to-dos, but I do expect to accomplish the most important things. I’ve always found that the worry about how long something will take to get done is far worse than the actual time it usually takes to do it. So, as Nike says, “Just do it.”
- I build in time every week for reflection and ensure that I’m grounded on what matters most. All of us are busy, but we must not confuse action with traction.
- I try very hard to not be a bottleneck. (See my letter on productivity!)
We’re all faced with feeling overwhelmed at times, but it’s not becoming for a CEO to appear overwhelmed. Remember, you’re a leader and people will take their cues on how to handle a situation from you. You will generally have information ahead of most others in the company. If you find you’re overwhelmed, take the time to process this privately so that public communication to employees and others can be done professionally and proactively.
The most important thing to do when you do become overwhelmed is to stay calm, and recognize that the best thing to do to conquer this sensation is to shift into taking action and executing on a well-thought-out plan.
Good luck, and if you need any additional help, let me know. Years of fire drills have given me lots of experience putting out fires without getting burned.
All the best,
Maynard