June 4, 2025

Your Brain Hates Overwhelm: Why Small Wins Beat Big Plans

Your Brain Hates Overwhelm: Why Small Wins Beat Big Plans

Your brain perceives big ambitious goals as threats, triggering a fear response that causes productivity paralysis instead of inspired action. Small wins are the neurological key to breaking through overwhelm, creating a dopamine-driven cycle of momentum that accomplishes more than extensive planning ever could.

  • Our brains are hardwired for survival, not modern productivity
  • Ambitious plans trigger the amygdala, shutting down rational thought and creativity
  • Every completed task, even tiny ones, releases dopamine that motivates further action
  • We overestimate how much planning we need and underestimate the clarity that comes after taking the first step
  • Breaking down big goals into "micro-missions" prevents neural gridlock
  • The most productive people aren't the best planners – they're the best starters
  • AI tools can help automatically break overwhelming tasks into manageable steps
  • Progress on meaningful work is the most powerful workplace motivator

If today's episode landed for you, hit that follow button and maybe pass it along to someone who's tired of feeling stuck in planning mode.

00:00 - The Overwhelm Trap

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Have you ever made a list so ambitious that it could double as an Olympic event?

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Write a novel, remodel the kitchen, lose 30 pounds, launch a side business, meditate for an hour daily, learn Spanish, and then somehow you end up frozen, binge-watching WWE videos, eating chips you didn't even remember buying.

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Yeah, you're not lazy, you're overwhelmed.

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And your brain, hardwired for survival, not modern productivity, doesn't know what to do with too much all at once.

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Today we're digging into why big plans often backfire and why small wins are the secret weapon your brain's been begging for all along.

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This is your Midweek Mindshift.

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Welcome to the Midweek Mindshift, the podcast that helps you rethink how you work, live and lead without losing your mind or your humanity.

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I'm your host, bill McMenamin, longtime HR leader, trivia buff and very much a recovering perfectionist.

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Each week, we dive into ideas built to make your brain exhale and your life work a little smarter, not just harder.

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Today's theme your brain hates overwhelm.

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Why small wins beat big plans.

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If you ever set massive, exciting goals, only to find yourself paralyzed instead of energized, this one's for you.

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We're going to explore why overwhelm hijacks your brain wiring, why grand plans can quietly sabotage you and why focusing on tiny, visible wins could unlock your biggest breakthroughs yet.

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But first you know what's coming.

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A little Brain Boost trivia.

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Here's your Brain Boost for today.

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According to a 2011 Harvard Business Review study, what was identified as the single most powerful workplace motivator?

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A Higher salary, b Recognition and rewards.

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C Progress on meaningful work or D Fear of failure.

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Lock it in Progress on meaningful work.

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That's right.

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The researchers behind the progress principle found that even tiny wins moving the needle just a little created more motivation, creativity and satisfaction than bonuses, plaques or pep talks.

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Your brain isn't craving perfection.

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It's craving proof that you're moving forward.

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Let's get brutally honest for a second.

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Back in January, I created a list of New Year's goals so huge it should have come with its own support staff career pivot, daily workouts, learn notion, read 52 books, master margaritas, be a better friend, parent, husband, human.

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I built the plan like a general prepping for war color-coded, calendar-blocked, playlist-ready, and by mid-February I was mentally frozen staring at my to-do list like it was written in another language.

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It wasn't laziness, it was neural gridlock.

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Lesson number one Big plans trigger the brain's danger alarm.

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Here's what neuroscience tells us.

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When you set an enormous goal like writing a novel, losing 40, maybe 100 pounds, or launching a new business.

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Your brain doesn't see potential, it sees threat.

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Why?

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Because big, complex tasks demand uncertainty, effort and delayed reward.

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A perfect storm for triggering your amygdala, the brain's fear center.

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And once your threat response kicks in, rational thought shuts down Creativity, shuts down Motivation tanks.

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You don't spring into action, you go into mental hiding mode.

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Sound familiar.

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Lesson 2.

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Small wins rewire the system.

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Now here's the good news.

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Tiny, visible wins aren't just nice, they're neurological power tools.

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Every time you complete a single, focused task, even something simple like answering an overdue email or making your bed, your brain releases dopamine.

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That hint of reward.

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Chemistry says you did something.

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It worked.

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Do it again.

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Suddenly you're not spiraling, you're stacking momentum and that momentum creates a loop.

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Action reward, motivation, more action.

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It's not discipline you need, it's a win, even a small one, that gets your brain back online.

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Lesson 3.

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Action is greater than architecture.

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Plans are comforting Spreadsheets, whiteboards, color-coded roadmaps.

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They feel like control.

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But real progress that only happens in motion.

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You don't need to map the entire mountain, you just need to find the first footing, make the call, write the paragraph, do the reps, record the intro, click, publish.

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We overestimate how much planning we need and underestimate how much clarity comes after the first step.

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If you're stuck, it's not because you're not ready.

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It's because you're trying to solve the whole puzzle before placing the first piece.

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The mind shift.

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Shrink the battlefield.

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If everything feels too big right now, here's the shift.

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Stop trying to conquer the whole thing.

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Instead, shrink the battlefield.

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One task, one micro move, one visible win, something so small.

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Your brain doesn't freak out.

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It says, oh, I can do that.

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That's how you outsmart overwhelm, not with more hustle, but with smarter leverage.

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Here's the summary Big goals often backfire by tripping your internal alarm system.

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Small wins hack your brain's reward circuitry and reignite forward motion.

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The most productive people aren't the best planners.

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They're the best starters.

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When overwhelmed, don't scale up, scale down If overwhelm is wrecking your productivity.

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Here's an AI hack to tilt the board in your favor.

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Use tools like ChatGPT, notion AI or SaneBox to break your giant tasks into micro-missions automatically.

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Here's how Instead of entering, write the quarterly report into your task list.

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Brain equals panic.

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Prompt your AI with breakdown.

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Write the quarterly report into 10 tiny, specific steps that feel easy to start.

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You'll get things like open last quarter's notes, draft the outline, write intro paragraph.

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Tiny pieces, tiny wins, massive momentum.

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The AI doesn't replace your brain.

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It rescues it from the overwhelmed paralysis.

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Why did the ambitious employee refuse to climb the corporate ladder?

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Because it looked like it was missing a few rungs.

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Moral of the story it's not about taking giant leaps off the ladder.

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It's about finding the next solid step and trusting the momentum that builds one rung at a time.

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Here's your midweek mind shift takeaway your brain isn't built for sprawling 47-point action plans.

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It's built for progress.

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You can see and feel.

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Shrink your goals, celebrate tiny wins.

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Stack momentum over perfection, because motion, even the smallest motion, unlocks motivation.

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If today's episode landed for you, hit that follow button and maybe pass it along to someone who's tired of feeling stuck in planning mode.

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I'm Bill McMenamin and I appreciate you bringing me into your world.

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Cheers until next time.