I have been on the go a lot lately. The word busy doesn’t begin to do justice to the feeling.

Come to think of it, I have been on the go for what feels like forever. Today was a bit of a breaking point. It was time to stop, breathe and make a decision that has been lingering in my mind causing me to stress out.

It was a classic case of the ‘should I or shouldn’t I’ dilemma.

I’ve had this seemingly great, but time-consuming, opportunity in front of me, and I knew I needed to either commit or turn it down.

The what-ifs kept swirling in my mind like a tornado.

If I say yes will I have the time?

If I say no will I lose my place in “the success” line?

I recognized this turmoiled feeling as one that’s become a bit of a theme in my life lately. The whole hard decision-making and the over-committing scenario has been popping into my life frequently. And it doesn’t seem to be just me, I hear it from my fellow beauty biz practitioners too.

I have gotten several emails from my esthetician coaching students expressing a similar feeling. They say, “Lori, I am suddenly ‘booked-solid’ and while that makes me happy, I’m feeling overwhelmed and yet scared to turn clients away. I have worked so hard to create this flow in my business, and I don’t want to lose ground. What do I do now?”

When I noticed this common theme, I decided that this is a perfect time to speak to you about how we can ALL come back to center whenever we are feeling tugged in too many directions. Because the reality is that these times will pop in and out of our lives over and over again. It’s just the way life is.

So today, I’d like to share the three steps I use to get myself through times like these, make a solid decision and overcome my overwhelm.

Step 1:

• Allow yourself some down time – time to just ‘be’ and not ‘do’ anything. In order to not be consumed with guilt, I recommend channeling my inner neurotic Virgo. That guidance says to set a specific amount of time just to be still and listen. Schedule it on your calendar. Then tell yourself for the next 24 hours you will let go of all that is causing you stress.I find that this quiet time is when the answers to my questions come to me in a very clear and powerful way. So while you’d expect this downtime to be unproductive time, it’s quite the opposite.

Step 2:

• Revisit your short and long-term vision.We will be talking a lot about how vital it is to create your success vision at the Esthetician Success Live Event happening in August 2015In my recent situation, I ultimately turned down the great opportunity. It was easier to say no when I looked at my short-term vision. I consider my vision to be my personal success GPS and at this moment, the vision is all about creating a very special live event for my fellow estheticians.

  The question to ask yourself is, “At this moment, is doing this aligned with my vision? Will saying yes contribute to the vision or take away from it?”

  When I asked myself that question, the answer was crystal clear.

Step 3:

• Once you have clarity surrounding your pending decision, you’ll be free of the mind-chatter and better able to focus on what needs to happen next. To keep yourself on track, I recommend creating a ‘next best step’ to-do list. This tool will keep your focus where it need to be and help you avoid slipping back into any doubt about your decision.

Try it and I bet you will love the outcome. Start here:

What are the three next-best-steps that you can take to help you become more organized in the area that was holding you back or causing overwhelm? Write them down. And don’t overthink these steps. Use the K.I.S.S. system – Keep. It. Simple. Superstar!