It’s no secret that our work lives involve a lot of activity. From tracking projects to jumping on client calls to meeting deadlines, it all contributes to overwhelm—even if we aren’t fully aware of it at the time. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to break through this feeling and tackle anything the day has in store for you. Here’s how to ditch overwhelm and get more done throughout your daily routine.
Get Clear on Your Goals
Goal-setting is one of the most important parts of any professional’s career. Making your plans and desires clear from the outset is key to making progress towards your goals and expectations. With a clear and realistic set of goals, you can get to work prioritising them and making your vision a reality. Best of all, there’s no longer confusion about what you should work on. Instead, you can focus on these select things and keep overwhelm at bay by tackling one thing at a time.
Schedule Time To Work on the Goals
Once you have a list of goals to refer to, schedule the appropriate amount of time to work on and meet them. Devoting time to your goals makes it easier for you to hunker down and focus. If you find yourself struggling to maintain focus during these periods, consider turning off your phone, removing distractions from your work area or you could even consider upgrading the ergonomics of your workstation, the additional comfort could make it easier for your mind to stay on track and make you more productive overall.
Delegate
If you don’t have time for certain tasks, consider delegating them to other members of your team. There’s only so many hours in the day, and acknowledging when you’ve reached your limit is vital to preventing overwhelm. To achieve the best results, make sure that you choose the right people to delegate these tasks to and provide them with adequate instructions for the job. This way, you won’t need to worry about fixing mistakes later. Delegation is one of those tasks that requires an investment of time in advance to reap the benefits later. If you are self employed don’t try to do it all alone, get yourself a virtual assistant and take the time your offload tasks, again the benefits will be felt for a long time.
Put Boundaries in Place
Another effective way to ditch overwhelm and get more done is to put solid boundaries in place for your work life. You shouldn’t have to do work after hours, and those that do often find themselves burnt out much more quickly. While this is not always realistic in a lot of roles and if you are self employed you may even enough working in the evenings and weekends but for your wellbeing and mental health it’s essential that you have some downtime. Decide on the hours that are sacred for your personal time and honour them. In your off hours be more present. Try to bring your thoughts back to the present if you find yourself thinking about work and when you are working capture any personal ideas or tasks in a note that can be looked at when you are finished work. We all need time to rest and recuperate so that most importantly you can have a fuller experience of life and you can go into each day feeling refreshed and ready to tackle your projects.
Take Breaks
Taking regular breaks is very important as well. Whether it’s a short walk outside or a quick trip to the coffee dock, these brief reprieves from work provide a mental reset that makes it easier to refocus after you return. Breaks not only improves the quality of your work but also keeps you from suffering from overwhelm.
