August 15th, 2011 by Kevin Ngo
The hardest part about dealing with an overwhelming workload is trying to stop your mind from running in circles at 100 miles per hour. When you have a ton of work to do and so little time to do it, the pressure can cause you an incredible amount of stress. Here are some tips to help you complete your task without having to go insane.
Stop
The first thing you want to do is stop. That’s right, just stop. When you get to that point of feeling overwhelmed, it just means that you are looking at the whole picture all at once and feel like everything must be done at the same time. When this happens, you need to calm your mind by just being still for a couple of minutes and taking a deep breath.
Prioritize
The next thing you want to do is to make a plan and prioritize the things you need to do in order of importance. When you know that at a certain time, you should be doing a certain task, and only that task, you will feel more at ease because you are only focused on one thing at a time. By writing down and prioritizing your tasks, you allow yourself to look at the big picture in tiny sections at a time.
Take Controlled Action
Once you know what you have to do, get to work but instead of doing it in a rushed fashion, do it at a steady pace that you can handle. When you work too hard on the first few tasks, you risk the chance of being burnt out and not have enough energy to do the later tasks at a high level of quality.
Take a Breather
Every 60-75 minutes or so, you should take a quick 5-10 minute breather. During this time, free your mind. Don’t think of the work you still have ahead of you. Now if a certain task will take 2 hours and the following task will require you to switch gears, then just finish out the 2 hours to save time from having to restart the momentum after the break. If it’ll take longer than 2 hours, then just break it up into 60-75 minute sessions.
By doing these things, you will be able to control the situation. The only reason you will feel overwhelmed with the huge stack of work in front of you is because you are focusing on way too many things at once. The stress will eventually affect your work and your speed will slow down. By planning everything out and working at a steady pace, you will get more work done without burning out.
Until next time…
Love Life. Do Good. Live Well.
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right now m feeling free after reading that article and tips. 🙂
thanks for such a guidance. i will surely follow and reply you the results coz m suffering of overloads by past 2 months ..
thanks again.. 🙂
You're welcome 🙂
but in my office i dont have much off break time
just do what you can with what you have. Taking the breaks will help out but if that's not possible, train your mind to chunks things down in size so that you won't feel like you have to do everything at once.
Thanks for this. I am a tad over whelmed as I type, and especially being reminded to take a step back, as sometimes I try to think harder about something, and I know better than that 🙂
this is what im just lookin for…thanks!
You're welcome
thanks for the easy and step by step of dealing with a burden of workload
glad you liked it 🙂
thanks..this is nice one..i will try to follow this also..in few months i am a bit stressed..too busy..sometimes i dont know which first i should do..im just a new mom, a fulltime housewife..im taking good care of my baby,my husband and the households..thanks again, i like your page very inspirational..im happy i found this!..
You'll eventually get the hang of it. I'm glad you like my site. Thanks for visiting!
Overwhelmed by the work load and responsibilities. All eyes are targeting at me knowing that I may be the “saviour” of the current situation. Lots of task need to do at one time. Queries from emails, task from emails, training for the stakeholders and all I know that the main root cause of this is the report that is rubbish!
I’m determined to get things rite, but all comes at one go. Excited with the new challenges yet its becoming pressurizing. I know what I have to prioritze, but it get away when queries of emails came in for an urgent matter to be taken care of.
What will you do 1st? Get the report rectified? and ignore the emails that keep pouring in?
Appreciate your help.
If the main root cause is the report, I’d work on that. As for emails, if possible, hire someone to handle that for you. Hope that helps.
Hi Kevin,
Thanks a lot! A new day a new beginning a new start!
Wish me good luck and hapy to meet you. Once again.. thank you.
m@werk
You have a great attitude. Good luck with everything!