You know that feeling – an overwhelming sense that your workload has suddenly pushed you into a place of overload. It’s when you have so much to do and a twelve hour day brings even more challenges for you to partake in, compounding your list of to do’s, as well as your blood pressure.
Drowning in a list of responsibilities is certainly not a nice feeling. It can bring on a sense of overwhelm and helplessness. The good news however is that once the situation is addressed, you are pulled out of the water and returned to a more fluent, consistent pace of life.
Here are a few steps that you need to take:
Cut out the junk
Stop hiding behind those activities which subtract from your time and your attention. At times, we do it in the name of ‘relaxation’, but even true relaxation is a deliberate, focused activity which should take us away from computer simulated interactions and lead us to do something ancient like read a book or walk in the park.
Now if you’ve convinced yourself that those 3 hours on Facebook was a reward for an 8 hour work day, don’t be fooled. It will be more beneficial to plan your next holiday than to spend 3 hours staring at photos and status’ of people ‘just for the sake of it.’ Otherwise, use those 3 hours to catch up on your backlog, so that you don’t start tomorrow on another stressed tone.
Time to Focus
I’ve always found that when our workload becomes too much, we slowly lose our sense of focus and drive. At times, we do as little as possible just to get through the day avoiding the pressure of how much we actually need to do to get above water, and then we try to wish our responsibilities away as if it were a dream.
Refocus by blocking out extra time to complete what is overdue and strictly use those times to catch up.
Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?”
Joyce Meyer
Start Doing Something
Overwhelm and pressure can bring procrastination. but don’t stand still. The moment you choose not to do anything, your situation compounds. It’s reaching that “I’ve had enough” point and taking charge of your reality.
At this point priorities are all meshed into one and everything is suddenly urgent. Just list everything which needs to be done and start on anything. You just need to be focused on one thing at a time and see it through to its entirety, one task at a time. The idea is for you to start moving, to build motivation, to get you going in the right direction.
The secret to getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain
What are some of your current challenges at the moment? Or what are some of the things that you need to stop doing in order to move ahead this year? I would love to hear from you. Feel free to join the discussion on Facebook or leave a comment below.
Diana Quartey 