Treat Your Business

148 Frazzled and Overwhelmed? 5 Proven Ways to Regain Focus for Clinic Owners

• Katie Bell • Season 1 • Episode 148

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Welcome

Hi, Katie Bell here, and if you’re new here, a massive welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast. Whether this is your first listen or you’re a regular, I’m so glad you’re tuning in. This week, I’m diving into something that so many of us need to hear: what to do when you’re feeling overwhelmed, distracted, and a bit frazzled, like your brain’s running on too many tabs.

Episode Summary
Ever look at your browser and realise you’ve got 65 tabs open? That’s how life as an entrepreneur or clinic owner can feel. Tired but wired, working hard but not really moving forward. If you’re doing all the things but none of them seem to be working, let me reassure you: you’re not broken, you’re not failing, and you’re definitely not behind. You’re simply in the middle of a big shift.

In this episode, I’m talking about what’s really going on when you feel this way, and more importantly, what you can do about it. Grab a cuppa and settle in.

Key Takeaways
✨ Overwhelm often isn’t about how much you’re doing, but about how much change you’re experiencing.
✨ Growth and change can feel uncomfortable, but that’s totally normal.
✨ The cure for overwhelm isn’t more information or more ideas, it’s focus and action.
✨ Pick one thing that matters most right now and give it your full attention.
✨ You don’t need another idea, you need to implement the ones you already have.
✨ Trust yourself to go deep, not wide. Consistency and commitment win the day, even when it’s boring or uncomfortable.

Practical Steps to Reclaim Focus

  1. Mute the Noise: Step away from social media or mute accounts that trigger comparison or doubt.
  2. Set a Consumption Limit: Cap your learning time each week. Spend more time doing than consuming.
  3. Pick Your Lane: Decide what season of business you’re in and choose one focus for the next 90 days.
  4. Revisit Your Strategy: Go back to your plan, check your 30-day goals, and let them ground you.
  5. Seek Clarity: Reach out to your coach or a buddy for a sense check and support.

Resources & Links
This episode is sponsored by Jane, the clinic management software and EMR. If you want to reclaim your evenings and weekends, check out the link in the show notes for a personalised demo. Use code Thriveonemo when you sign up for a one month grace period.

Final Thoughts
If you’re feeling frazzled, you’re not weak or failing, you’re just in motion, doing the brave work of change. Be kind to yourself. Turn down the noise

Treat Your Business podcast is proudly sponsored by MBST, the groundbreaking technology revolutionising recovery and rehabilitation. Offering a non-invasive, drug-free solution for musculoskeletal conditions and nerve injuries, MBST works at a cellular level to stimulate regeneration. Expand your services and deliver long-term patient improvements without increasing your workload.

Learn more at mbstmedical.co.uk. 

Treat Your Business EP148

[00:00:00] Katie Bell: Welcome back everybody to the 

[00:00:01] Treat Your Business podcast. I'm excited to be here. My name is Katie Bell, and for those of you who are new to listening, a huge welcome. If you are popping into this episode as your first episode, then a massive welcome, but know that there are so many other ones that you can binge listen to at your free will whenever you wish this week is.

[00:00:23] All about something that so many of you need to hear, especially if you've been feeling overwhelmed, distracted, and frankly just a bit frazzled. Like basically, your brain is running on too many tabs. You know when you look at your internet browser and you think you've got 65 tabs open, I often look at it and realize that I'm trying to do six, five jobs at once.

[00:00:45] This is how your brain can feel as an entrepreneur and as a clinic owner. You are tired, but you are also wired like. And that feeling of pressure that you need to be doing more all the time is really sitting heavy on you. So you are gonna be working really hard, but you may also feel like you're not really moving forwards.

[00:01:03] It might be that you're doing all the things, but it doesn't feel like any of them are really working. If this sounds familiar, I want to tell you something important before we get into this episode. You are not broken. You are not failing, you are not behind. You are just in the middle of a massive change and a massive shift.

[00:01:26] So today we're gonna talk about what's really going on when you feel overwhelmed, distracted, and a bit frazzled and what you can do about it. So stay tuned in, grab a cup of tea, and enjoy this week's episode.

[00:01:39] Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast with Katie Bell. I'm Katie, and this is the place to learn the strategies, tactics, tools and mindset needed to build your clinical studio into a business that gives you the time, money, energy, and fulfillment you want and deserve. My team and I work every day with overwhelmed and exhausted clinic owners like you to shift them from a business.

[00:02:01] There is a huge time and energy drain and is not giving them the income they want to confident clinic owners that are making money, saving money, and getting time back in their lives. So if this sounds like something you want, let's dive in.

[00:02:16] Today's episode is sponsored by Jane, a clinic management software and EMR. The Jane team knows that when your workday is spent providing care to your patients or your clients, it can feel like there aren't enough hours in the day for the rest of your admin tasks. This can mean scheduling appointments become.

[00:02:35] The hours tasks turning what should be restful evenings into extra long work days. That's why Jane has designed user-friendly online bookings. You can give your patients freedom to book their appointments at their own convenience. Patients can also manage their appointments, fill out intake forms, and enable SMS and email reminders.

[00:02:53] From their secure online portal, which saves you from having to do it manually to see how Jane can help you reclaim your evenings and weekends. Head to the link in the show notes to book a personalized demo. Or if you're ready to get started, you can use the code Thrive one mo at the time of sign up for a one month grace period.

[00:03:10] Apply to your new account.

[00:03:14] So let's cut through all of the noises out there. When you are inside a growth program like ours is, it's very easy to think I've just got to learn more. I need to absorb more. Maybe I've missed something. Maybe I need to watch more of the training videos. Maybe I need to read more of the books. Maybe I need to listen to more podcast episodes.

[00:03:39] But I really want to challenge that because overwhelm often isn't about the amount of work that you are doing. I love you all dearly, but many of us. Are not wired for execution and action taking. Many of us who are visionaries, particularly those listening to this podcast, who generally are the ones running their companies are procrastinators, they are dreamers.

[00:04:03] They are big picture thinkers, but not great at starting and completing tasks. So overwhelm often isn't about the amount of work that you're doing, there's not always the action going on there. It's about the amount of change that you are experiencing, and this is the truth that most people don't like to talk about.

[00:04:23] Growth is really uncomfortable. Change is destabilizing. Upleveling, your business is gonna stir up all of your old habits, patterns, doubts, distractions, beliefs, and when you are implementing new systems or rethinking your pricing and trying to be more visible, hiring a team, moving out of the day to day, you are not just changing your business.

[00:04:52] You are changing how you see yourself and you are changing your way of being. And we talk about the be, do, have principle a lot in Thrive that if you wanna change what we see in your environment and we wanna change your business, we first have to start with you. So when we start changing how you see yourself and you're moving away from sole trader into leader.

[00:05:17] Or clinician into business owner, your brain does not love it because it likes familiar. It likes control. And when things feel uncertain or unfamiliar, it tries to protect you in the only way it knows how. And what that does is it seeks more input. It seeks more noise, it seeks more comparison, and it seeks more things to do.

[00:05:47] So what happens is you go down rabbit holes, you listen to five different voices with five different opinions. You try to build a funnel, launch membership post every day, hire a va, change your onboarding, create an ebook, all of these things, and suddenly now we're overwhelmed and frazzled and you just don't know where to start because you doubt every decision you make and you start to think.

[00:06:09] Oh, maybe I'm like, maybe I just can't run this business. Maybe this is I'm not good enough. And because I can't deliver on one thing, I've just got a million things going on all at once, and I'm here to say that this isn't failure. You need to position this as a fork in the road. The cure is not more, the cure is focus and action.

[00:06:31] At this point. The instinct is often to go searching for something new. And we had a situation recently where a clinic owner joined us. They were doing what appeared on first look at on paper to be a pretty, pretty big clinic in terms of their size of revenue. But when and in during their initial strategy call, we really dug into the numbers 'cause that's what we are there to do.

[00:06:59] There was some big holes and big questions around, if you say you are doing this and if your numbers say you're doing this, where's all the profit going? 'cause what you are saying and what we're seeing is two very different things. And we are here to not like, stroke your ego and make feel great about yourself.

[00:07:15] We're here to enable. And push you into changing your business for the better so that your life ultimately becomes better. And what can often happen when we ask big questions and we challenge the status quo, and we challenge who we are currently being, feels really uncomfortable, it feels really triggering.

[00:07:41] And this person. Went in search of something else and we lovingly and did their program with us. And that is because they, there was a challenge around accepting responsibility and accountability, but really leaning into how uncomfortable this is gonna make me feel. And I say we're not here to.

[00:08:06] Make you feel like a complete knob. We are here to support you in feeling like a complete knob, but you're gonna come off these calls, you're gonna come out of our stuff and go, oh my God, I feel stupid. that I didn't even know that. Or, I've only just realize this. Or Of course this is the way I should be doing it.

[00:08:21] But I, I didn't even know that was a thing. All those feelings completely normal. If you knew them already, you would already be creating and doing it in your business. So you know what you know, you don't know what you don't know, and there's all this stuff that you don't know, you don't 

[00:08:37] even know yet.

[00:08:38] So this moment where we have to go, 

[00:08:43] okay, is this feeling overwhelmed? Because actually I'm doing too many things and I'm taking so much action that I'm basically not sleeping. Probably not. Or is it that you are trying to think of so many things to do, but there's not really any specific strategic action going on, and so we're starting a lot of stuff.

[00:09:06] We're not completing a lot of stuff, and we're just going round in a cycle, and also running away from those very uncomfortable feelings. When we go searching for something new, a new strategy, like a new tool, a new course, a new coach, perhaps this is what the situation we're in with this client.

[00:09:23] Then the real solution isn't any of that. It's actually less. The antidote to overwhelm is focus, and it's saying, what's the one thing that matters most right now? And how can I give that to my full attention? Because let me tell you this, and I say this with complete love and lots of honesty, that you don't need another idea.

[00:09:48] You need to implement the ones that you already have. You need to actually make shit happen. You need to get outta this learning loop and into the doing so. I say this with love 'cause we have lots of our clients who are on program that listen to this podcast and they get so much benefit from it.

[00:10:08] But whether you are coach with us or not, you absolutely have to learn new skills and knowledge and a new way of being. But we have to compliment that with action, implementation, doing, getting shit done, making things happen. Moving the business forward. So you need to trust yourself to go really deep into this, not really wide.

[00:10:30] 'cause being focused is not about doing more, it's about doing what matters the most consistently with commitment, even when it's really boring, even when it's really hard, even when it's not giving you instant gratification, even when it's making you feel like. Oh, this is real uncomfortable and making me feel like sweaty because I'm being asked questions about my numbers and I don't know them.

[00:10:53] But we are not here to judge. We are here to lovingly say to you, you are gonna feel uncomfortable. There is gonna be things that we stretch you and push you on. And those clients that lean into it even more and go, I'm here for it, Katie. 'cause I know that this is the process that I've gotta go through, are the ones that create successful businesses.

[00:11:14] I know that's not as sexy as Chase in a new idea, but it's how successful business owners are made. So how can I help you def frazzle, or as I say to my friend on a Friday, we go on our little, we call it a therapy walk. Used to be a therapy run. Has to move to a therapy walk. Because as I'm recording this, I'm 30.

[00:11:33] 38 weeks pregnant. So we are currently doing a dfr walk. And a dfr means you know, when you need to like. Just basically get everything outta your head and we just talk at each other for the entire time that we bolt around this reservoir. But this is like, how do I, what are the practical steps to defragging or defragging?

[00:11:55] Let's make it real. Let's make it practical for you. And if you are nodding along, thinking this is exactly me. I'm a thinker, but I'm not a doer, or I've been, I've spent so long trying to chase everybody else's dream and to-do list, I'm not actually making stuff happen in my own. So here are the five things that you can do today to clear the noise and reclaim a bit of focus.

[00:12:17] Number one, mute. Mute the noise. I about to go and. Have a baby and I am going to be muting the noise also because I will be unfollowing and muting. In fact, I'm just coming off social media for a period of time because, I do not need 65 people to tell me what is the best way to feed your baby.

[00:12:41] I'll figure it out because I am a female and I, we are born to do this, so I will figure it out with the help of the experts that are around me. And in my network, what I don't need to do is be triggered by comparison. So I want you to mute the noise. If you are feeling overwhelmed, frazzled, unclear, not really feel like you're moving forward, just come off social media.

[00:13:05] Just stop it. 30 days for 60 days or for 90 days. Unfollow or mute. Any accounts that trigger comparison, confusion or doubt. If they are not aligned with the current stage of business that you are in or where you may want to be going, they're not 

[00:13:24] helpful for you right now. They're harmful.

[00:13:26] And we all have to do 

[00:13:29] this. We all have to be really diligent in what we are consuming and what we're listening to. Most of you will know I have now not listened to the news for so when did I first start coaching? It's probably going on for 11 years. Maybe 12 years. Never watched a nuisance. Don't read newspapers, don't read crap magazines.

[00:13:53] Don't follow any of it on my phones. Like I've literally got no idea what's going on half the time. Because most people tell you, don't they? But also, I can't actually control any of those things and they can be harmful rather than helpful to make. I also think they're incredibly biased. I dunno whose opinion I actually wanna listen to.

[00:14:10] So I just unfollow. I just mute. I don't look. So where, who are you listening to? Whatcha you spending your time scrolling on that is giving you confusion or is giving you doubt. Number two, set a consumption limit. Cap your learning time in a week, depending on what stage of mindset growth you are in.

[00:14:37] Business growth, you are in this. This cap will need to be different for all of you. But if you are somebody that binge listens to podcasts and courses and downloads and webinars, like if you are spending more time consuming than you are implementing, you are just avoiding the hardest part. So can you say, I'm gonna come off all social media for X amount of time and I'm gonna cap my learning time to one or two hours a week of like personal development things that you wanna do that might be 15 minutes a day or half an hour a day, or whatever that looks like for you, but just for a short period of time rather than consuming, just start making shit happen.

[00:15:18] Number three, pick your lane. 

[00:15:21] Ask yourself this, what season of business am I in right now? Are you building foundations? Are you trying to increase cash flow? Are you trying to get up to 10 K revenue a month? And your main focus is on sales and marketing? Are you hiring your first team member? Are you in a state where you are hiring your 10th team member and you are really focused on, going for a grant because you're trying to take the next level of business growth. You can't do it all at once, but you've gotta pick one focus for the next 90 days. So for all of our members, listen to this. You have a strategic plan, you have financial projections, you know what you need to be working on, and we break that down into quarters and into 30 days.

[00:16:07] And each 30 days, we're holding you accountable to making those things happen. It's really important. Implementation is the key. So pick one, focus for the next three months and be like, that is what I need to make happen. Now as a result of that key thing that is usually measurable and specific and time bound, we might have a to-do list or a list of steps that we need to take underneath that to make that thing happen.

[00:16:33] Number four, revisit your strategy. I've just touched on this. If you remember, go back to your strategic 12 month plan and call. Open up the resources. Look at the plan that you already have. Check in with your 30 day goals. Have them. In front of you as on a Monday, let me remind myself what is the key goal for this 30 days.

[00:16:56] What am I doing to make that happen? You are not behind, you're just distracted. So let the plan really ground you and be so diligent in saying no to more things than you say yes to. And then number five. Send a message to your coach and say, here's what I'm focusing on. Does this look right or to one of your buddies on the program?

[00:17:26] Let someone outside your busy brain give you the clarity that you are looking for. And lean into the community that we have created to get that clarity, like we all have the same amount of time. So why is it that some people move quicker than others? And it's mainly because those that move 

[00:17:45] forwards quicker.

[00:17:47] Just take more action.

[00:17:48] So I wanna leave this with you, that if 

[00:17:51] you're feeling frazzled, it doesn't mean that you are weak. It just, it doesn't mean that you're failing. It doesn't mean that you're not a great business owner. It just means you are in motion right now. You are doing brave, bold work by changing the way that you show.

[00:18:08] For your clients, for your business, and for yourself. But that kind of work doesn't happen in a really like tidy, linear line. It's really messy. It's really noisy. It's human and it's about it's about leaning into what entrepreneurship really is. You have to shovel a lot of shit as an entrepreneur.

[00:18:28] So be kind to yourself. Please turn down the volume. Please pick one voice to listen to for a short period of time. That's all it takes. Pick one strategy to follow. Pick one goal to work towards and trust that the clarity that you are craving comes from committed action. Not constant input. You've totally got this, and if you work with us, we've totally got your back as well.

[00:18:59] Thank you for listening to this week's episode of The Treat Your Business podcast. If their episode has hit ho, drop me a review. I love to read them and I genuinely read all the reviews because I wanna make sure that what I'm delivering is of high value to everybody who listens and maybe share it with somebody else who might be feeling the same way.

[00:19:18] And remember, your best business decisions come from focus, not from a place of frenzy. I will see you next time. 

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Katie Bell

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