How to not feel overwhelmed at work in 5 steps

We probably all know the feeling, you log in on Monday, or you start working again after a vacation, and your mailbox is filled to the brim, you have multiple meetings planned for that day and you feel like there’s an endless pile of work left to do. How do you deal with this? In this article, I share my five best tips for preventing feeling overwhelmed at your job.

Tip 1: Good preparation goes a long way

If you’re like me, and you’re bound to forget everything that you don’t write down, there’s one simple solution: make a list! Preferably, you make one list before the weekend, going on vacation, or when you have a busy time coming up and you want to be prepared. For example, you can list the following things:

• Tasks/work you’re actively working on right now, and still have to finish.
• Tasks/work you’re not actively working on right now, but are waiting for colleagues, a follow-up meeting, etc. You still have to finish this, though.
• Tasks/work you (recently) completed and/or need to keep track of. 

Now you won’t need to remember everything, but you can just look up your list when you log in! Say you did this, and you still feel overwhelmed by the gigantic list of things you have to do. What then?

Tip 2: Prioritize specific work-related tasks

This leads to my second piece of advice: prioritize your work. Depending on your job and what tasks are on your list, you can make a numbered list or mark tasks with a certain colour depending on priority, for example:

1. Has to be done today / high priority
2. Has to be done this week / moderate priority
3. Has to be done at some point / low priority

Another thing that might help is breaking up work into specific tasks. Say you need to make a report, then you can divide the work into the following tasks:

1. Write a concept version of the report
2. Ask for feedback on the concept version
3. Rewrite the concept version with feedback
4. Share new concept version with manager
5. Rewrite the concept version with feedback
6. Send out a definitive version of the report

Tip 3: Block time in your work agenda and team apps like Skype, Teams, etc.

When you need to focus on a certain task that can’t easily be done in between other work, or when it takes a long time to finish, you can always block time in your work agenda to work on it. There are multiple advantages to this, for example:

• Your colleagues immediately see in your agenda that you’re busy and aren’t available for planned or unplanned meetings.
• It forces you to work on that specific task and discourages procrastinating. 
• You keep track of what you’re working on at what time.

In an office job, you can sometimes feel like you have to be available at all times. Unless you work as a customer service agent or your job requires you to be available, you can also choose to turn your availability off for a fixed time in team apps such as Skype, Microsoft Teams or Slack. It helps to avoid distractions from incoming texts or calls. You can also decide to temporarily mute notifications from Outlook or your mail app. 

Tip 4: Use the Pomodoro technique

If you feel like all the work you have to do takes too long and you find it difficult to start with a task, you can try to use the Pomodoro technique (source). How does it work?

1. Choose a task you’re going to work on.
2. Set a timer to 25 minutes (you can also use another period, such as 45 or 60 minutes).
3. Work on the task. 
4. When the time is up, take a short break of 5 minutes.
5. After every 4 Pomodoro’s that you finish, you take a longer break.

When you use this during work hours, it might not feel very productive to take a break every half hour or 45 minutes. Instead of taking a break, you can also choose to do a less intensive task, such as checking your e-mail in between or reading something. 

Tip 5: Communicate

We probably all feel overwhelmed, tired or unmotivated at times, but it’s always important to remember to communicate when you struggle with feeling overwhelmed. I know it’s easy to feel like a burden to your colleagues or to feel weak and ashamed about your difficulties, but there’s no reason to. 

How can you deal with this?

• If you feel like you have too much work on your plate and you can’t finish everything before the deadline: ask your colleagues for help, or talk to your manager, project leader, etc. It’s always better to communicate your concerns early than to wait until the last moment to say you won’t be done in time. 
• If you feel like you have too many meetings planned or you can’t concentrate: try to find out if you must be present at all the planned meetings. Maybe you can skip a meeting if a colleague is present, or if notes are taken. You can also ask if the meeting can be shortened a bit, especially if you have two meetings right after each other, so you can take a short break in between. Even when you’re not overwhelmed, may be difficult, but there are multiple things you can try to make speaking up during meetings easier.
• If you feel stressed because you have to wait for updates/feedback/finished work from your colleagues, because you need their work to continue with your tasks: Send out a reminder to the specific colleague (if a reasonable amount of time has passed), write down exactly what you’re waiting for from whom, and try to work on something else. In the end, there’s not much that you can do about a colleague not delivering their work, but it’s always important to document everything in case someone asks why a certain task isn’t finished.

In summary

We all feel overwhelmed at work at times, but there are a few things you can do to prevent this. Make a list of your open (and closed) tasks before the weekend, your vacation, etc., to prevent yourself from forgetting important things when you come back. When you have your to-do list, prioritize tasks so you know what work has to be finished first. Don’t hesitate to block time in your agenda or from work apps to be able to fully focus on your work, and try to Pomodoro technique if you have trouble starting a certain task. Finally, don’t forget to communicate with your colleagues, team leader or manager when you need help. 

Featured image by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash