Are you feeling overwhelmed at your place of employment? A bit lost at the moment? You are not alone.
These feelings of being overwhelmed can come out of no where.
Perhaps you’re at the same position you’ve been at for years but can’t seem to get it together. Maybe your superiors are throwing more at you than you believe one person can accomplish in a day. Or maybe all motivation is gone.
Let’s go through some suggestions to get you through this difficult time.
Priority One is Yourself
No one should sacrifice their mental stability for a career. There are too many other choices at your fingertips.
As long as you aren’t in a toxic environment, let’s try to help you through this. (More on Toxic Environments Here if you are unsure)
Your first step is always – take care of yourself.
When you feel anxiety coming on, you need to step back and take a breather. Going for a walk outside to clear your head is an excellent and quick remedy. You have to be ready to tackle the tasks at hand.
Issues from Home
You may have issues at home that you are trying to work through while you are in the office. I try to clear up anything related to my home life before I walk into the office. Unfortunately, this isn’t always possible.
For example, I can think of a few times where my fourteen year old teenage daughter and I had an argument when I was dropping her off at school. I’m the type that lets one bad thing ruin my entire mood.
What happened in the car played over and over in my head all day at work until I sent her an email and she responded. At that point, I was able to get work done and stay focused.
Handling these types of situations (however large or small) will help you focus.
Work Overload
It’s all about organization and priorities. When you’re mentally clear and ready, make a list of all the things you have going on that you need to accomplish. Once your list is made, rearrange that list in order of priority.
For example, something your boss has asked you specifically for with a deadline needs to be knocked out first. Even if it’s before the deadline and you could have finished other things. This will be looming over your head while you try to get your day-to-day done. Knock it out.
Do the same for your home life. When you get home, make a list of all the things you need to do to clear this side of your mind. Struggling with feeling overwhelmed at both the office and at home is compounding a painful situation.
Set times next to your priority list. Give yourself more than enough time for each task. If you believe something will take 30 minutes, give it 35 or 40 just to make sure. Give yourself break times to regroup. For example:
- 9:00 – 9:15 Check all emails and respond as necessary
- 9:15 – 9:45 Write a specific email to accounting regarding budget
- 9:45 – 10:00 Break/Breather
- 10:00 – 10:30 Meet with Marketing
- 10:30 – 10:45 Finish Reviewing Agenda for Afternoon Meeting
Keeping yourself on track is important. You’re setting yourself up for success.
There may be things you have to squeeze in. I purposely try to give myself more time than needed for most tasks. When I can sit down and concentrate on just one thing at a time, I get so much more done.
If I have a massive break in my schedule between tasks, I have a list off to the side with things I could do if I find myself with these extra minutes.
Reward yourself as you scratch things off. There may be instances when you run out of time and you need to tack it on later in the day – that’s ok!
Response Time
There’s someone at my office that isn’t that efficient when it comes to getting tasks complete. I think she’s a little OCD and spends way too much time on the details.
However, to the outside world (customers, co-workers, and higher ups) she is absolutely fantastic. The reason behind this is response time. She makes emails and phone calls a priority. If someone reaches out to her, she’s always there.
Response time is so important. It’s not even about getting something done – it’s acknowledging to others that you have received their request and you are working on it. If you don’t have it done in a timely manner, you’re reaching back out and giving updates.
Someone You Can Lean On
You need someone that you can vent your frustrations to.
If you hold everything in, you could be bottling up and it’s waiting to explode. Make sure you have a support team. If you do not currently have anyone, find someone you can vent to. Actually, it doesn’t even have to be a person.
You can vent online or even only to yourself. Start a blog or a diary or comment on a message board or forum.
Don’t hold it all in and let it drive you mad.
Still too Much?
If you’ve tried all the organizational and responsiveness tips on earth and you’re still boggled down and stressed every day, there’s a larger problem here.
Communication is so important. Have you addressed your concerns with upper management? Will they allow you to delegate some of your workload to others?
Make sure you are communicating your concerns if this is a long term problem. If you are burnt out and nobody is listening, that’s something different.
No one is keeping you at this job. There are thousands more just like it out there. Only you can know if you’ve done everything possible to accomplish what is being asked of you and there’s still a mountain that is looming.
If you’ve exhausted all of your communication efforts with little or no response, that is the time you begin your search for something different.
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