A practical mindset exercise for untangling overwhelm — give each competing voice in your head a name, a role, and a seat at the table, then figure out what each one actually needs.
15 mins
This is one of my favorite tools for getting out of my own head — and I use it pretty regularly. I learned it from my business coach and it's genuinely helped me more times than I can count.
The Meeting Table is a mindset exercise for those moments when everything feels like too much. Analysis paralysis. Inner critic going haywire. Can't focus. Feeling guilty about not working. Feeling resentful about working too much. You know the feeling.
The idea is simple: instead of letting all those competing voices swirl around as a big undifferentiated cloud of stress, you give each one a name, a role, and a seat at the table. Then you figure out what each one actually needs.
When to use it
- When you're feeling overwhelmed or burnt out
- When you're procrastinating and can't figure out why
- When you're being really hard on yourself and can't snap out of it
- When you feel like you don't have time for everything and don't know where to start
- As a regular proactive check-in — you don't have to wait until things feel bad
How it works
Step 1: Draw out your table and your people
Create a simple oval shape — that's your meeting table. Around it, place the different voices or parts of yourself that tend to show up when things feel chaotic.
You can do this in a notebook, a Google Doc, or in Canva. I made mine on a Canva whiteboard using sticky notes and icons from a designer called Good Studio — but honestly, a piece of paper works just as well.
Here's my Canva template if you want a starting point.
Step 2: Give each voice a name and a role
This is the part that makes the exercise actually work. Giving each voice a real name — not just "my anxiety" or "the critical part of me" — helps your brain treat them as distinct, manageable characters instead of one overwhelming feeling.
Here are the characters at my table, as an example:
Taylor (my CEO) — she's usually saying we're not working hard enough, we're not getting enough clients, we need to be doing more. Classic CEO energy.
Debra (my inner critic) — named after a genuinely mean babysitter I had as a kid. She's the one telling me I'm not good enough, I should be further along, I'm doing it wrong. She's loud and she's usually wrong.
Katie (my accountant) — named after someone who taught me a lot about money. She's almost always saying we're not making enough, we shouldn't be spending on anything fun. She needs to see the numbers before she'll calm down.
Sally (my employee) — the part of me that actually does the work. She's often saying she's overbooked, burnt out, or just not interested in what's on the to-do list right now.
Angelica (my inner teenager, named after the Rugrats character) — she does not want to work. She wants to watch TV, eat junk food, and do literally anything else. She shows up hardest when I've been restricting rest or pushing through exhaustion.
Barbie (my hobbyist) — she's always thinking about what we're doing after work. Which hobby are we doing today? She has a lot of interests and sometimes gets decision fatigue about which one to pursue.
Gina (my wellness advisor) — she's quietly in the background reminding me to exercise, eat well, sleep enough, and go outside. I don't always listen to her, but I should.
Your characters will be completely different from mine — and that's the whole point. Think about the recurring internal voices that show up when you're stressed. What are they saying? What role are they playing? Give them names that mean something to you.
Step 3: Tease out your thoughts and assign them
Start with whoever is loudest. What are they saying? What specifically is bothering them? Write it down next to their name or on a sticky note near their seat.
Work through each character until you've named what's actually going on. A lot of the time, just doing this step brings significant relief — because "overwhelmed" becomes a set of specific, nameable things instead of one big wall of feelings.
Step 4: Find solutions for each voice
For each character, add a sticky note with what they actually need to feel better. Keep it concrete and actionable.
Here's what that looks like for my table:
- Taylor (CEO): needs a clear plan for when client work will get done and what I'm doing to get new clients — or reassurance that I actually have enough clients and I'm just nervous
- Debra (inner critic): mostly just needs to be told she's wrong. I don't have a lot of solutions for her — I just acknowledge what she's saying and remind myself it's not true
- Katie (accountant): needs me to open my bookkeeping, check my invoices, and follow up on anything overdue. Once she sees the numbers, she usually settles down
- Sally (employee): needs me to look at my deadlines and figure out if anything can be moved. Sometimes I'll cancel a non-essential meeting to give her more breathing room
- Angelica (inner teenager): needs actual rest — not scrolling, but real downtime. She shows up hardest when I've been pushing through for too long. The solution is usually to schedule something genuinely fun and non-work-related
- Barbie (hobbyist): often gets satisfied at the same time as Angelica — if I schedule a walk, a hike, or an afternoon to sew and watch TV, they're both happy
- Gina (wellness advisor): needs me to schedule movement, eat a real meal, or go outside. I've learned that doing what she says usually makes half the other characters quieter too
Try it yourself
The next time you're feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or like you're spiraling, try this before you do anything else:
- Draw your table and your people
- Give each voice a name and a role
- Write down what each one is saying right now
- Find one concrete thing you can do to help each one feel better
It takes 15–20 minutes and almost always helps me figure out what's actually going on — and what to actually do about it.