So busy you don't know where to start
Why are you so busy?
Do you ever find yourself tuning out when you really need to be present?
For example, your child or partner needs you to hear them, and yet you know you aren’t really concentrating.
Do you ever organise some alone time only to find that your mind drifts off to solve or worry about that work issue in the middle of what you're doing?
Recent research says that all professionals have another 40 hours of work to do at the end of each week if they aim for a clean desk.
That’s realistically a double week. Every week. For eternity.
I’m going to share my Mari’s Overwhelm Obliterator! It’s not actually a thing but it is what I do when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
Workload stress, a common struggle among professionals, is a frequent topic of
discussion with my clients. Many of them share a similar sentiment: they feel
overwhelmed and have no idea how to control their workload. I can empathize with this, as I too have faced this challenge in the past.
In my experience, there are two parts to this and compounded they create a huge problem. The first part is a mathematical equation. You have double the amount of work to do than is humanly possible to do in the time that you are given to do it.
I first started to notice this doubling of workloads, about six or seven years ago,
positions were being lost to redundancy or people moving on and yet they weren’t replaced. Instead, their work was pushed onto other people who were already stressed and busy, just increasing their workload as if this would not be a problem, with hollow promises that someone would be employed in time…
The second part is that many of us don’t know how to set healthy boundaries in our lives. Our parents should teach us that we are wonderful worthy people and show us how to boundary how we are treated, our schedules, our downtime etc. However, the sad fact is that many of our parents didn’t know or weren’t taught how to set healthy boundaries around themselves, and therefore, they could not pass this learning down. This is where modelling can leave us stuck as people-pleasers, in poor relationships and with low self-worth. The model of working every hour we can is just the way we were brought up, it’s just what you do.
This leaves a vast portion of the population unable to set boundaries around
themselves and therefore pushes their lack of boundary setting onto others.
For example, if you’re leading a team and cannot set boundaries, you will just
continue to model overworking, poor organisation, lack of delegation and an inability to stay on task. Your peers and those in your team will either learn your poor model or suffer from it as you delay work in your inbox due to poor organisation. You’ll be the one that frustrates those around you.
So what can you do about it? You need to do the work to clear your childhood
baggage and change your patterns—this is unavoidable but powerful once done.
However, until you are ready to do that work, the quick practical way I use when I feel overwhelmed is…..
Mari’s overwhelm obliterator!
Firstly shut off all your tech notifications for 2 -3 hours. Literally, turn off your phone.
Make sure you have had enough to drink and eat.
Take a 20-minute walk - rain or shine to clear your head, energise your mind, and get you out in nature (ideally).
Then return to a quiet and undisturbed workspace.
Take a breath and be really honest with yourself about all the things you need to do.
Make a big list of everything. Including all your personal life things to do. You are one person.
Now, take that list and prioritise it.
Extremely urgent
Urgent
Not urgent but important
Nice to haves
Anything left over
Firstly, work out what you can delegate to others and do so.
Then start diary blocking – (blocking out sections of your calendar so no one else (including you) can book things into it.
Then, honestly and always erring on the side of more time, plan all the things that need to be done on your calendar. Only do this for one month ahead.
Create set times for certain things like email checking or the firefighting you know happens each day.
Make sure you have planned the personal things you need to do, too.
For example, I need to organise house insurance this week, and I’ve allocated an hour to do so. I allocate Monday mornings to all my personal things and then I begin my week at work.
Plan in downtime, time with friends and family, etc., or plan set times off, like
weekends and evenings that you know you will do this in.
Don’t worry about getting everything in, if you have prioritised well then you’ll fill the month with the important stuff.
The rest of it can sit on the list until it becomes one of the top few categories, if it doesn’t then it’s not important enough.
Finally, remember that these are not just things that are important to other people.
An urgent priority for you might be finding and beginning a dance class, booking in more downtime each day, and making sure you have time to exercise. YOU are the most important thing in your life.
If something knocks you off track, get back to your plan as soon as possible and move things around to re prioritise. Check the plan each week and each day. Allow a few hours at the end of each month to repeat the process, but as things come up, allocate them to your calendar and you’ll find that you should get to a point where it becomes self-evolving.
However, doing the internal work is always the best place to start and has wide reaching effects that go way beyond organisation and the workplace.
Boundaries are crucial for healthy, happy relationships in all areas and as our human connection with others is what makes us truly content, giving yourself the gift of healthy relationships can change your life.