Overcoming overwhelm

Are you keeping your head above water?

A natural reaction to having too much to do is to keep ploughing on. Trying to keep on top of everything and working longer and longer hours.

Whilst this can help you get through short periods of intense workload, over the longer term it can begin to feel like a never-ending slog, a hamster-wheel that doesn't ever stop turning, a trap of unending work.

Feeling this way can also lead to constantly thinking about work, all the tasks that haven't been done, everything you still need to do, and the risk that you end up burnt out; your own health and wellbeing affected.

1.    Taking a break!

Taking breaks away from work can interrupt this cycle. Even brief breaks provide the chance to step back and have moments to think about things differently. Perhaps from a different perspective.

So are you thinking - as if I have the time to do that?!?

It might feel like taking a break is an impossibility. If you are managing to fit in short breaks, making a cup of coffee for instance, a chat with someone, lunch out of the office or workplace, that’s great.

If short breaks feel like a struggle. What about using moments such as walking between meetings, the commute to and from work, just after a meeting has ended – where taking time to focus on something else, takes your mind away from work. Here are some ideas on what you can focus on to take your attention away from work:

-      Taking some long slow deep breaths whilst walking between meetings

-      Watch the world go by for two minutes

-      What’s the weather doing, is it sunny? Windy? Pouring with rain?

-      What’s happening around you right at this moment? What can you see and what can you hear?

2.    Talk about it

Who is in your support network? Do you have one? Perhaps you don't think of them as your support network. Friends, family, work colleagues. People who you talk to. Perhaps they understand some of what you're dealing with, perhaps they are people who can actively help you with your workload.

Talking things through, saying something aloud can help you unpick what's really important and worth focusing your effort on, what might be really irritating you that you're avoiding because you don't know what to do about it, and things you're doing that aren't the highest priority that you feel you have to do anyway.

When you're feeling overwhelmed one of the hardest questions someone might ask you is "why are you doing that?" and it's easy to become defensive. Try taking time to think through that question. Is there a way you could deal with something differently, so it's no longer just you struggling to get it done?

3.    The “D” word

And if you’re snowed under with work and it’s become all consuming, what might you consider delegating? And what has stopping you doing so?

Is the piece of work is too important to you to let anyone else do it?

You don't think others have the right skill set?

The work won't be done in the way you want it to?

Feels like it will take more time asking someone else to do it than doing it yourself?

Don't have people to delegate to?

It's not appropriate to do so?

There may be a range of reasons. Balancing out what you gain and what risks you perceive in delegating tasks, is important to consider. And it may be that in the short-term it creates more work for you, and that you only see the benefit of delegating work several months down the line.

 If you choose delegate or simply ask someone to help you with a piece of work:

-      Be specific: what is it you want them to do? By when do you want them to complete it? Does the deadline you've given them give you enough contingency to incorporate what you want to do once they've completed the work? What expectations do you have on what they produce?

-      Ask them for their opinion: are they willing to do so? is the timeframe realistic? what difficulties might they have? what support might they want from you?

-      Negotiate: discuss and decide jointly how to overcome any issues raised, if you're likely to worry about the progress they are making how you both of you will handle this

-      Let them get on: once you've agreed on the piece of work, timeframe, support you'll provide the person you've delegated to, let them get on with it. Trust them to deliver.

4.    Out of your comfort zone

What are you feeling most uncomfortable about? Too much discomfort can add to the sense of overwhelm and the feeling of an insurmountable mountain of work. Balancing out pieces of work that you know how to do and can get on with, with the more challenging tasks or activities may help realign belief you've achieved something in the day along with tackling something that's difficult. To help achieve this balance:

-      What time of day do you have most energy? Noticing the times during the day you're particularly productive can be the best times of day to deal with something difficult. The more energy you have the more likely you'll find motivation to deal with the tasks that are more challenging.

-      What's sitting in the back of your mind that you keep trying to push away, and keeps reappearing? Make a note of these thoughts and create space to do something about them. Thoughts and worries that keep recurring will continue to take time and energy. Focusing and choosing to do something actively with those thoughts will help move you forward, rather than getting caught and stuck by them.

5.    Be kind to yourself

Easy to say, harder to do perhaps? Getting settled into a new role with new relationships to build, new responsibilities to deliver on, range of tasks and activities that are unfamiliar, it's likely that some things will slip.

Or you'll miss something.

Make a mistake.

Yet you won't be alone in having done this, even though it could feel like it and that you've let yourself and other people down.

To help keep a positive focus:

-      Note down what you've achieved each day, particularly the things that you've found particularly challenging. Take time to acknowledge that achievement.

-      Admit mistakes and what you've missed. It can help you let go of those mistakes and look at what you've learnt from it. It's a good way of showing others and yourself that mistakes happen and doing things differently from what you've learnt is productive and keeps things moving forward.

Whatever you do and however you do it, take time for yourself to recharge and re-energise. It has positive benefits for you and those around you both at work and in your personal life. Reducing the feeling of overwhelm and being out of your comfort zone can take time, it won't necessarily be a quick fix. Taking each day as it comes and identifying what has been positive during each day can help maintain your focus on what you've achieved and the contributions you've made, important to your sense of purpose and wellbeing.