Feeling overwhelmed can be a normal reaction when things get on top of you in every day life. It can be the expectations at home or at work, responsibilities and many other things that can trouble you.
A good amount of stress is good for you, it keeps you motivated and makes you work to get the job done. But too much can be debilitating and have a real impact on your life. So how do you manage your PT business and website when you are feeling this way? Here are some tips to help manage your stress and your PT website when you feel overwhelmed.
Knowing it is not going to last is the first thing you should be thinking about. You might feel overwhelmed now, but it will pass and you will feel better. Acknowledging the problem is the first step to finding ways to cope when you feel this way. Understanding your feelings will help you to understand the problem and find the triggers too.
Take some time to process what is causing these feelings and try to put together a plan of what to do next. Think about offloading some tasks to others, or even just talk about how you are feeling. This can make a big difference and reduce the burden you are putting on yourself. It might seem like the feeling will last forever, but things will get better. Just take some time to organise your thoughts and you will be back on track in no time.
Yes, there may be a lot of tasks to complete and your to do list might appear to be never ending. But remember all these tasks don’t need to be completed today. It is ok to have a work life balance and you need to concentrate on yourself as well as your business. Don’t assume that you will only get success if you work every hour of every day. To be happy you need other things in your life too. So, if you are not getting everything done today, well there is always tomorrow. Answer your emails today, work on a blog post tomorrow, work in a way that helps you.
Prioritise your work, then leave the rest, make a list for the next day and so on. This way you are breaking the tasks down into manageable chunks and they will seem less to overcome and make you feel you can complete what you need to do each day. Writing it down is also a good idea, often the tasks will look easier to contend with on paper than in your head.
If you write regular blog posts then perhaps it is time to reduce the frequency of publishing articles to bring down the anxiety of keeping on top of it. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, if you try to do too much then you might end up doing nothing at all. It might be hard to admit but you don’t want to regularly feel this way if you are trying to do too much. You are only putting the pressure on yourself.
Think about how often you write and publish blog posts and what impact this would have if you were to reduce the number of posts you put out there. If you publish a weekly article, then perhaps make every two weeks instead. Taking off the pressure and giving you some time to sort out other things will help to ease the feeling of being overwhelmed. If you simply must keep up the regularity of your articles, then why not task someone else to do this for you. Delegating work to free up space for yourself if you can will leave you more time for other tasks.
If you get a lot of questions about your business, it can be hard to keep on top of replies. You might want to filter the messages and questions you get and prioritise the most important ones answering those first. Set up an automatic reply giving yourself a longer time to get back to people, work with a time frame that suits you giving a realistic period to respond. Doing this will also prevent further messages following up the original message if people know you will respond within a certain amount of time.
If it is all too much, you might want to shut down your messaging services for a little while. Perhaps with a message saying you are taking a break right now and will be back on a certain date. Consider the implications of this before you do this though. You don’t want to miss out on business if you close down your methods of communication completely.
As well as only answering only the most important questions you receive, sending out an automated response acknowledges the person without having to write a response yourself. But as well as just sending a message saying you will get back to them, why not include answers to frequently asked questions in your response.
You can answer some of the most asked questions, such as how ling sessions last, prices and what types of treatments you offer. You can also direct to certain parts of your website to find out more information such as what treatments are best for different conditions. This way, you don’t have to make an effort but your visitors are still finding the information they need.
When you are feeling overwhelmed and have a business to run, it can make the situation even harder. Managing your PT website can be the last thing you want to do when you have so many other pressing tasks to complete. There is no harm in asking for some help. Colleagues, friends and family will be there to support you if you reach out. Just having someone to talk to can make a big difference.
Within your team if you have one, give out some tasks that need to be completed, that you haven’t got the time or frame of mind to complete yourself. Don’t worry about asking others for help as sometimes this is the only way of getting through things done when you feel overwhelmed.
If it all gets too much and you have tried other avenues, but in the long run things are not changing, you may need some outside help. To take the stress of running a website out of your everyday worries, why not employ a professional to do this for you. Patient sites can help you to manage your website, produce patient information and manage social media and emails for you too. Contact patientsites today and see what we can do to make your life easier managing your PT website.
There are different coping strategies to employ when you feel like everything is too much. But the most important thing to remember is you are not alone. Many people feel this way at some time in their lives. Here are some tips for dealing with the feeling.
As you can see there are lots of things you can do to reduce the stress of managing your PT website. From reducing the blog posts that you share and delegating tasks to hiring experts to take on this work for you. Don’t panic if you suddenly feel overwhelmed, you will get through it with the right mindset and help and support.
Do you need some help with your physical therapy website and marketing? Download our Free Evergreen Marketing Blueprint for Physical Therapists and start creating long-term assets that generate new patient bookings for years to come.