Overwhelm is something that many of us are faced with.  There seems to be more and more we’re required to do.  Between our personal life, family, and work, it’s becoming very challenging to fit everything in and maintain our sanity.  We’re also being bombarded constantly with information overload.  I was reminded of this when I was working with a client yesterday who is understaffed and overworked which resulted in complete overwhelm.

Action:

The first thing we did was get focused.  We took all the projects running around in his head and wrote them down. Remove the clutter from your mind. The second step was to organize and prioritize the tasks, the third step was to assign the tasks.  The last step was to compose emails to each person listing the task and the due date.  He was then free to work on his responsibilities feeling more focused and in control.

Tip:

Sometimes we don’t stop long enough to get focused and nothing gets completed.  If you find yourself talking about the same problems weeks or months on end, it’s time to take charge, make a plan and take action.  Often we think it takes too much time to delegate and it’s just as easy to do it yourself.  That is not true.  If you take the time to clarify your expectation with others and then diarize the follow-up if necessary, eventually with your consistent actions, you’ll instill consistency in others.  It may take more time in the beginning, and ultimately you’ll save time and will be much more efficient. And then you can get on with what you do best as a leader.

That’s true leadership.

Steps to alleviate overwhelm:

1. Get focused
2. Write down projects and tasks
3. Organize and prioritize your list
4. Assign responsibility to each item on your list
5. Contact each person giving specific responsibilities and assign a completion date and/or time.
6. Diarize and follow-up