Do you have more to do on the job than you can possibly get done? Is your heavy workload causing you to feel stressed, overwhelmed and exhausted? If you don’t address the issue, then your long work hours can lead to burnout. Burnout can be detrimental to your job and your physical and emotional health.
If you find that your workload has increased beyond your capacity, then it’s time to meet with your boss to address the issue. Here are key points to cover in your meeting.
- Assure your Boss of your Commitment to Work – Explain to your boss that your work is important. You’re feeling overloaded with work, and you want to continue to be productive and perform at a high level rather than burn out.
- Clarify Job Expectations and Priorities – The first step is to make sure you’re clear on your job expectations and priorities. Make a list of your most important work projects. Review this list with your manager, and together prioritize your work priorities. You’ll need to focus most of your time and attention on these priorities.
- Cut out any Non-Value-Added Activities – Review your job description. Make a note of any tasks you perform that are not part of your job description. Your boss may not even be aware of the extra duties you’ve been saddled with. Then determine if there are any tasks that can be eliminated. Maybe you’re expected to write a weekly report, but you know that no one ever reads the report. If it’s not adding value, then get rid of it.
If, after implementing these changes, you find that your workload still requires countless hours a week to complete, then schedule another meeting with your manager to explore other options, such as hiring an assistant or intern, or balancing the workload by assigning it to someone else.
By addressing your heavy workload, you’ll be able to meet your work commitments and deadlines without burning out!
There’s never enough time! That’s a common complaint I hear from my coaching clients. They tell me there’s never enough time to do all the things they want to do. Time management is critical to our success. But how do you manage time? Well actually, that’s a misnomer. You cannot manage time. But you can manage yourself and how you spend your time.
Sometimes all we need is a little perspective. Here are some of my favorite quotes on time management. Hopefully, they’ll give you some perspective. Pick out a favorite quote and review it often to remind yourself of its truth.
“Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” – H. Jackson Brown
“Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
“It’s how we spend our time here and now, that really matters. If you are fed up with the way you have come to interact with time, change it.” – Marcia Wieder
“A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.” – Baltasar Gracian
“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” – Michael Altshuler
What is your favorite time management quote? Please share with other readers.
Sandy has an important report that’s due today. She’s had a week to complete the report, yet has put it off to the last possible day. Now she’s under the gun! “I’m going to get started on my report first thing this morning,” Sandy tells herself. “But first, I need a cup of coffee to ‘get my juices flowing’.” At the coffee station, Sandy runs into a friend and they chat for ten minutes. Once back at her computer, Sandy decides to check her email to see if Bill sent the data needed for her report. No message from Bill, but Sandy has read 13 messages and responded to six of them. By this time an hour has passed, and Sandy still hasn’t gotten around to writing her report. Sound familiar? Do you suffer from that disease called procrastination?
Procrastination reduces our productivity. When we put off important assignments, we put pressure on ourselves to produce the work at the last minute. This practice increases our stress level and also results in sub-par work. Or we end up missing deadlines and turning in work late.
How can you overcome procrastination? First you need to determine why you procrastinate. We procrastinate for a variety of reasons. In my work with my coaching clients, I find there are three primary reasons we procrastinate. Here are the key reasons and solutions for each.
Too Complex – The task is too complex and you feel overwhelmed, so you’re not quite sure how to get started.
- Take the ‘Swiss Cheese Approach’. Break down the project or task into smaller pieces, and then tackle one piece at a time.
Don’t Know How to do it – You’ve never done this before, and you may not have the necessary knowledge or skills to complete the project. You experience fear of failure, so you ‘freeze up’ and don’t do anything.
- Seek help. Find a mentor who has done this before who can ‘show you the ropes’. Seek out resources or training to learn how accomplish the task or project.
Task is Unpleasant – You really dislike doing this task, so you put it off.
- Give yourself a reward for completing the task or project. As an entrepreneur, making calls to prospects is important to my business, but I don’t like making the calls. Therefore, I’ll complete my calls in the morning, and then reward myself with a walk out in nature on my lunch break.
The next time you find yourself doing anything but the task at hand, then ask yourself why you are procrastinating. Then follow one of these tips to get back on task. By doing so, you’ll be able to complete your projects on time and with high quality.
What other tips help you overcome procrastination? Please share with other readers.
Have you noticed that your energy level fluctuates throughout the day? We all have our own natural rhythm. Many people have more energy in the mornings, and then experience an energy lull in the middle of the afternoon. Some people are “morning people” who jump right out of bed in the morning with lots of energy. Not me! Others of us are “night owls”. We get our second wind in the evening.
It’s important to be aware of your energy cycles, so you can plan your work around your energy levels. If you plan important work during your prime energy level, you can accomplish so much more! Think about it. How do you feel when you’re in prime time? You feel energetic – like you can tackle the world! This is your prime productivity time. Take advantage of it, and focus on activities that require a lot of concentration or creativity.
During prime time, focus on:
- Important tasks
- Critical decisions
- Problem solving
- Brainstorming/generating ideas
- Complex thought
If you try to do these tasks during your energy lull, it will take much more time. Resist the urge to do easy, trivial things during prime time. Save routine paperwork for times when you have less energy. By planning your work around your prime energy levels, you’ll be amazed at how productive you can be!
Electronic devices such as e-mail, voicemail, cell phones and PDAs are designed to make us more productive. They enable us to be connected 24/7 and have instant access to information. However, these devices also allow constant interruptions which can reduce our productivity. Nowhere in America do we use answering machines to screen out calls, and then have Call Waiting so we won’t miss a call from someone we didn’t want to talk to in the first place! Ironic, isn’t it? How can we use these devices to our advantage? How can we minimize these interruptions and distractions?
Here are tips to better manage voicemail and e-mail.
- Let your phone go to voicemail when working on an important project. This allows you to work uninterrupted.
- Use your voicemail greeting to answer commonly-asked questions. This will reduce the number of phone calls you receive.
- Schedule time to return calls and e-mail a few times a day. Many people get distracted by the phone and e-mail. Rather than checking your voicemail and e-mail consistently throughout the day, schedule time to do so. This will help you be more focused on the task at hand.
- Turn off e-mail notification. Do you get distracted by e-mail? My friend, Vicki, can’t resist seeing who e-mailed her every time she hears the tone indicating that she has mail. If you’re like Vicki, then turn off the tone, so you won’t be tempted.
- Read messages in your Inbox only once. Answer it immediately if possible, or delete it, or move it to a project-specific folder.
By following these tips to manage voicemail and e-mail, you can focus on your most important priorities and be more productive!
To learn more time management tips, listen to Take Control of Your Time CD.