I get overwhelmed, too


We were scheduled to fly out of Casablanca on Wednesday. I should be snuggled up in my cozy home office in Arizona, writing this to you.

Instead, I’m still here in Morocco, hanging out in an AirBNB for a couple of days.

See, yesterday’s email wasn’t just a hypothetical, “Here’s what to do when you have a big project.” It’s what we’re living.

Our flight was canceled, and now we’re navigating how and when to rebook so that it has the least financial/mental/physical impact.

We’re approaching this “project” exactly as I recommended yesterday: one small, doable task at a time.

Step one is to get back to my Villa on the Hilla and regroup. We’ve hired a car to pick us up tomorrow morning, and we will be home by dinner. So that’s done.

Next, we’ll navigate the flights. This would be easier if we were in Europe, or if we lived on the East Coast of the US. Getting back and forth from Africa to Arizona? It’s brutal. Totally worth it, but exhausting and expensive nonetheless.

✈️ International travel is not for the faint of heart, y’all.

If I let myself think about all the things that have to happen, I can easily become overwhelmed. It’s a lot to manage.

But when I think about just the next step, it’s easy.

That’s the entire system: define the project, identify the very next action, and ignore everything else until that’s done.

After yesterday’s email, several of you wrote for more clarity. You wanted more details about how to take a big, messy project and turn it into action steps that feel more manageable.

So while I’m sitting here chilling in my AirBNB, I wrote it up for you.

From Overwhelmed to Done: A System for Completing Big Projects

If you’re the kind of solopreneur who gets stuck in planning mode because everything feels important, this will help.

Cindy “one step at a time” Bidar

Here are four cool things worth sharing...

💡 A New Idea

Tim Ferriss' Fear Setting exercise is a useful tool for putting fear into perspective. When you really take it out and look at it in the light of day, fear loses much of it's power.

Watch the video and do the Fear Setting exercise.

📣 A Member Win

Lisa took me up on my invitation to hit the publish button, and created a blog post filled with ideas we all need more of. If the news is just too much right now, here's a kinder, calmer option.

Read Creating a Good-News Habit for the New Year.

❤️ A Favorite Resource

Got income goals this year? We all do—but there's a difference between having a goal and having a plan to reach it. Here's how to create the plan ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

Plan your million-dollar year.

🎉 My Latest Project

Inevitable Success happens one small experiment at a time. In this month's Action Lab, we're designing fun, low-risk business experiments to expand your reach.

Only in Six-Figure Systems.

Systematic is a human-authored newsletter. All single-word paragraphs, em dashes, and jokes that don't quite land are entirely my fault.

The legal(ish) stuff: Some of the links you'll find in my emails may be affiliate links. That means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I might earn a small commission. Thank you for trusting me to help you make smart buying decisions. If you crave more legalese it can be found on my website.

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Cindy Bidar

Find out how solo coaches, course creators, and freelancers are living the six-figure lifestyle with part-time hours, thanks to a few smart systems.

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