Ten Things To Do When You are Feeling Overwhelmed

 What do you do when you have so much work to do that you feel overwhelmed by it?  To insure job success and to be happy at work, these 10 tips will help.

1.   Make list of all the things you have to do.  Just writing down the list helps.  Now that you have them written on paper you have insured your job success. Nothing will be forgotten! Just this one step will help your overwhelm.

2.   Prioritize the list. Have a must do list.  There are things on my list that can wait and other things that have a definite time that they must be completed.  You can now see clearly what you must do immediately.

3.   Delegate.  Eliminate any job that someone else can do for you. If there is a possibility of off-loading some do it. For those who have no one to delegate to, there may be a way to ask for some support from team members.  This of course depends on your own work situation.

4.   Say no!  Eliminate jobs that are not going to move you to your goals quickly.  Look at the big picture here.  Say “no” to surfing the internet too.  That can be a big fat time waster!!

5.   Look at your list and select a few items that you are best at.  Do them after those that are due immediately. If possible find someone else to do the jobs you dislike or are not very good at.  Checking off a few tasks will give you positive energy.

6.   Schedule your tasks in your day planner so that you stay focused. If you break down your tasks into steps, be sure to write the date you want to do each step in your planner.  Of course you will need to be sure that you complete the task by the date you have planned.

7.   As soon as you begin to feel overwhelmed take a few deep breaths.  It is surprising how many people stop breathing or take very shallow breaths when they are upset. Take some deep breaths too between tasks.  It will also help to get up periodically and walk around for a couple of minutes.

8.   Schedule some free time to just relax and/or be creative.  This may seem counter intuitive when you have too much work but taking some time off will give you more energy than working straight through and tiring yourself out.  If you are refreshed from a break you will work more accurately and faster.

9.   Work out regularly to clear your mind and stay fresh.  Exercise too will keep you from getting agitated about your work.  Just as free time refreshes you so does exercise

10. Stay in the moment – Sometimes you get so overwhelmed by work that you think about what you are not doing while you are doing a necessary task.  This will make your work take longer and the quality may not be as good.  For job success focus on what you are doing to get it done in the best way possible.

Stuck in overwhelm?  Sometimes knowing what to do just isn’t enough.  Want to understand what is getting in the way? A coach can help.   Call me at 781-598-0388.