Where do I start when I'm suffering from overwhelm?

Saturday is my "Joker Day" for intermittent fasting and so I was delighted on numerous fronts to be at Barnshaw Smithy in Mobberley, tucking in to a Full English with Mark Topley.

A chance for the two old friends to catch up and shoot the breeze about our respective careers - he on his way to The North of England Dentistry Show (which I missed simply because Annie and I haven't seen each other for the last three weekends).

One of my "shares" in the conversation with Mark, was the re-emergence of "overwhelm" as one of the biggest challenges that my Extreme Business clients report to me.

In fact, at the final Q1 Leeds workshop on Friday - "overwhelm" was the number 1 challenge faced by the 20+ Owners in the room.

• Not enough hours in the day;

• Not enough "ticks" - task list still full at the end of the day;

• Not enough privacy or focus - constant interruption;

• Not enough sleep/rest - exhaustion;

• Not enough clarity on direction - "where do I start?"

So I challenged Mark to combine his experience as a CEO and his skill teaching us how to be Great Bosses - in order to come up with an "Overwhelm Toolkit" - a guide to where to start and what to do when we are drowning.

Mark promises me he is going to put that together - just as soon as he can find the time (cue irony).

Monday morning and I'm standing in today (with Mike Hesketh) at Ashley Latter's Entrepreneur Group while Ash is in Australia teaching people how to communicate and sell. I'm looking forward to meeting some new faces (and friends), listening to Mike, and sharing my perspective on where we all are and where we are going.