B oy, don’t we wish we could say that! Work overload? No problem! We wish! The truth is when the work starts piling up in the office, most of us start to stress out am I right? When we start mentally checking off what needs to be done, or when we see the work start to pile up on our desk, and we’re running from one appointment to another, it is hard to imagine how anyone wouldn’t get stressed out.
We all feel that burst of happiness and pride every time our bosses comment on what a good job we have done, or how well we’ve been performing. But when your bosses start trusting you more, it also inevitably means that they will start trusting you with more and more work. Of course we can’t exactly run away from the workload our bosses hand us can we? As much as we would like to, a lot of us tend to feel bad or guilty or worry that our bosses won’t think much of us if we were to reject a certain task.
Trust me I know how it feels. Sometimes work seems to overwhelming that you just want to run away from it all. Thinking about all the things you need to do and the workload that you have can give anyone a headache at times. So what do we do?
For one thing, don’t stress out! Stressing out never helps anything and it only makes matters worse. All you’ll end up with is a headache, so what you should do is take a deep breath, relax and slowly look at what needs to be done. Here are some methods that have worked for me before:
The first thing you need to do is make a check list of the things that need to be done. Write down each task in order of what is more important – what needs to get done immediately for example – so you can get a clearer picture of what needs to be done. Avoid making mental checklists because often it seems that there is more work to be done when you start running everything together, and not to mention you might forget a thing or two.
Write down your tasks and tackle one thing at a time. It might be a good idea to finish one thing at a time instead of trying to do many things simultaneously. Focus all your energy into one getting one job done at a time, that way you’ll be able to give your full attention to one job at a time and do the best job you can.
If you find you’re too overwhelmed with work and it is impossible for you to meet the deadline you boss has set, set up a meeting with your boss an explain the situation. Let your boss know the thing’s you’re working on at the moment, and that you might need an extension on the deadline. Be professional about it and your boss will understand. After all, it’s not like you’re rejecting the job outright, you merely need a deadline.
If you need help on a task, get a co-worker to help you, or let your boss know that you might need an extra hand with this assignment and it would be great if your boss could assign someone to help you out with the task.
Sort out what you need to do and tackle one thing at a time. That way things don’t seem so overwhelming and you won’t stress out as much and save yourself from headaches.
Image credits: iantie-suarahati.blogspot.com, impactfactory.com, mbase.com.au
