Seven Crucial Keys to Overcoming Overwhelm on the Job

The best of us can get overwhelmed. What can overwhelm one person isn’t a problem for someone else – it’s all relative. What’s clear is that it can really stop the most effective person in their tracks.

‘Overwhelm’ is a sense of hopelessness and overload together with mental and emotional stress and anxiety.

It is a sense of being overrun by problems, a feeling of complete lack of control.

#1 – Overwhelm is relative.

What overwhelms one person, another can eat for breakfast. It just means that you’re facing issues that you probably have never faced before. It’s all about getting experience dealing with these issues and realising what is on the other side of them.

#2 – Fight the beast!

The only way to deal with being overwhelmed is to fight the beast head-on in the ring. You cannot run or leave this fight. It’s yours for the taking and the winning! Personal growth is about to occur, so step up to the plate and face it!

#3- Get into a ‘no-interruption zone’ fast!

When you’re in overwhelm mode, it means you’ve got more coming at you than you can emotionally or mentally deal with. To breakthrough, you need to put your current workload and tasks on hold and withdraw to a place where you can focus.

#4 – Write it all down.

Just taking what’s in your head and writing down all the issues will reduce your sense of being overwhelmed and reduce the stress by 50%. You’ll get a better sense that you’ve got a plan to deal with it, creating more confidence amidst the feelings of fear and anxiety.

#5 – Break it down.

Most issues are made up of many individual parts. It might be more than ten different issues that have all contributed to the feeling of overwhelm. Break it down and look at each issue separately and you will find that it is easier to deal with than you might have feared.

#6 – Deal with the loudest barking dog first.

When broken down onto paper, 20% of the components listed contribute to 80% of the problem. Hit these hard and hit them first – then deal with the rest. After you’ve dealt with the difficulty you’ll experience a sense of ‘I can do this’ and get your mental state back to ‘confidence mode’ and feel in control again.

#7 – Burn the candle at both ends.

Sometimes you just need to do some extra hours to get on top of the issues at hand. The goal is to do what it takes to be back in control. Once you’re back in control, ease back on the hours and get back your balance.

You might need to take a few hours off to recharge.