From Overwhelm to Action: How I Fulfilled My Dream of Living in France

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed by your to do list that you didn't even know where to start? That was me when I decided to move my family to France for a year. I'd dreamed about doing it for years, but once it became a possibility, actually making it happen seemed like something that could easily end up in the too hard basket.

But we made it! And as I was drinking my coffee in our town's gorgeous square the other day, I started thinking about how moving to France is no different to working on a big new project in your business. You've got to learn to overcome the overwhelm, and avoid the procrastination pitfalls if you want to turn your dream into reality. 

The Dream and the Overwhelm

When I sold my ecommerce business in 2023, one of the first things I did was buy one way tickets to France for me and my family. I booked the flights, and then immediately started stressing about how I was going to manage it all. We have a house in Australia, two kids, two cats, and my husband has a business. We didn't know where we would live in France or even if we could get the visas. I felt like I had an insurmountable pile of things to do, and for a few weeks I got bogged down in a state of overwhelm.

Recognising Overwhelm

What exactly is overwhelm? Overwhelm is the emotion created when our brains perceive that many tasks have equal importance. This feeling can paralyse us, so we either do unimportant tasks that leave us spinning our wheels, or we procrastinate. When I'm overwhelmed, my thoughts run on a familiar track: "There’s too much to do," "I don’t even know where to start," and "I'm never going to make this happen." For a couple of weeks I did nothing about organising our year away, and the weeks crept by, making me feel even more stressed.

Step 1: Create Clarity

As I started to feel more overwhelmed with the whole "moving to France" thing, I knew I needed to create some clarity. Here’s how I did it:

• Brain Dump: I wrote down every task I could think of related to the move. This helped me get everything out of my head and onto paper.
• Focus on One Thing: I asked myself, "What is the most important goal right now?" For us, it was securing our visas.

Step 2: Prioritise

With clarity on what needed to be done, the next step was prioritising:

• List Action Items: I listed all the tasks that I needed to do to tick that short term goal (getting our visas) off my list.
• Remove Non Essential Tasks: I crossed off tasks that I didn't need to do immediately (like buy spiffy new luggage and create lists of all the French cheese I wanted to try).
• Assign Time: I estimated how long each task would take (a lot longer than I thought on the visas and finding a place to stay, as it turned out!) and set some deadlines.

Step 3: Organise

Organisation is always the key to managing your tasks and workload effectively:

• Create a Timeline: I set out a timeline of which things had to happen when, with deadlines for each major task.
• Delegate: I created a shared folder and to do list, delegating tasks to other family members (I have older children, so this is something I can do these days).

Step 4: Plan and Follow Through

Finally, planning and follow through to make sure we stayed on track:

• Set Aside Planning Time: I dedicated specific times for planning and reviewing progress.
• Follow Through: Despite the initial overwhelm, we took action on our plan. We tackled one task at a time, ticking off items from our list.

Tips to Avoid Overwhelm and Procrastination

There's nothing like knowing you'll be homeless when you get to a new country to help you avoid procrastination! In your business, however, you don't always have such immediate consequences when you don't get things done.

In my business, when I know I've got work I've got to get done to move the business forward and hit my big goals, I've got a few strategies that help me avoid procrastination and take action:

• Set a Timer: Work in focused bursts using a timer (I love the pomodoro technique!)
• Eliminate Distractions: Find a quiet place to work and eliminate potential distractions (noise cancelling headphones are a lifesaver for me)
• Batch Tasks: Group similar tasks together and work on them in a focused block of time to avoid switching gears all the time
• Take Breaks: Schedule regular breaks to help maintain productivity (breaks in your day - like a coffee in the town square if you're living in France! as well as breaks in your week).
• Focus on One Task: Work on one thing at a time. Finish your focus block before you check your email or your socials. 

My Transformation

By breaking down what seemed like a monumental task into manageable steps, I overcame the overwhelm and got shit done. We got our visas (with just two weeks to go, but that's another story!), leased out our house in Australia, found an amazing apartment in France with views of a castle, and now here we are, living our dream in the south of France. Every time I take on a huge project that has people around me saying, "that sounds amazing, I don't know how you do it", I realise again that the big things you want to do - they're achieveable. In life or in business, get clear on what you want, break it down into steps, prioritise what's important, and get it organised into a solid plan that you can tick off step by step. 

Take the First Step

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your to do list, it’s time to take action. Start by creating clarity around your goals and tasks. Prioritise what truly matters, organise your tasks efficiently, and follow through with your plan.

As they say here in France, bon chance!