How do you like the title of this column? Doesn't it sound like the title of a movie starring Michael Caine and Brenda Vaccaro? The Overwhelm Factor Michael Caines a British agent dashing through the busy, rainy streets of London, yanking Vaccaro along with him while she clutches a manila folder chock full of Her Majestys Secrets. Big Ben tolling in the background, the furtive duo slips into Scotland Yard before the stroke of midnight, a terrorist bomb set to go off any second in the middle of Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Square. Reach the Yard too late and its curtains for the Queen Mum too, not to mention the entire British Empire. Yes, The Overwhelm Factor from Paramount Pictures coming to a movie house near you this Christmas!

Well, surprisewere not talking about a movie after all, though youll probably wish I were. The Overwhelm Factor actually refers to a common stuck point all too familiar to too many professionals today. Its that reeling feeling we get when the whole world around us begins crashing down on top of us. Too much to do, too much to know about, too much to keep abreast of. Too many projects, demands, accountabilities. Ka-ba-ba-boom! Sometimes, you eel pretty sure you just cant take it anymore.

Fortunately, a simple solution is available. And it has to do not with maturity or experience or grizzled wisdom but the innocence of children. Yes the children will set us free, or at least their example. To fight off overwhelm, weve got to regress to our childhood, in particular very EARLY childhood. That's right. Overcoming The Overwhelm Factor involves the taking of teeny-weeny baby steps.

Whenever an obstacle to career success rears up in their path, many otherwise crackerjack professionals throw in the towel and let said obstacle stop them point-blank in their tracks. While thinking nothing of taking on outsized, derring-do projects when asked (or ordered) to do so by their boss, they nonetheless operate far less aggressively when faced with a similar challenge/opportunity in their career life. They then push their career ambitions to the personal back burner, letting them slide. Might this depiction fit you?

If so, your own Big Picture efforts may be scaring the bazookas out of you, so much so that you end up doing nothing at all. So try this approach for a possible breakthrough: embark on a few baby steps! Thats one teeny-step forward, then you go then another teeny-weeny teetering toddle next then a third, and a fourth, and then hey, nice work! youre on a roll!

When faced with seemingly overwhelming odds, whether in advancing your personal life or your career, what can seem like one impossibly enormous load can actually grow lighter simply by chipping away at it bit by tiny bit. As the age-old Chinese adage goes: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Begin yours with baby steps, knowing that together they will carry you a long distance and enable you to overcome what previously seemed overwhelming and insurmountable.