Are You Constantly Feeling Overwhelmed? Here’s What You Need To Do Right Now.

It seems like our lives are running daily at a nearly relentless pace. Add in the personal or family needs, and it’s all too easy always to feel overwhelmed. When this is the case, it is as if the complexity of the world surpasses the complexity of our mind or our ability to handle the level of complexity for us to be effective. Note, though, that this has nothing to do with how smart we are but everything to do with how we make sense of the world and how we operate in it.

A vicious cycle

Have you noticed how our typical response to ever-growing workloads is to work harder automatically? Not only that, but we start to put in longer hours, rather than take a few steps back and examine what is making us do this and find new ways of operating. 

The impact of being overwhelmed

There is a cognitive impact to feeling perpetually overwhelmed. This can range from mental slowness, forgetfulness, confusion, difficulty concentrating, or even thinking logically, to a racing mind or having an impaired ability to problem solve. When we do have too many demands on our mind over an extended period, cognitive fatigue can set in, making us more prone at this point to distractions and thinking less agile. Any of these effects alone can make us less productive and of course, feeling even more overwhelmed. If you are feeling this way right now, let’s look at a few key strategies to try out:

Find the root cause or primary source: 

Take a minute out to ask yourself, “What’s the one thing (or two) if taken off my plate, would make 80% of the stress that I feel right now go away?” Now realistically, we know that you may still need to be responsible for that one (or two) things and can’t take them off your plate; but this question can still help identify a significant source of the stress in your life. If it’s a project that’s almost done, finish it.

Maybe it’s just the actual size of the project or task at hand that’s overwhelming. If that’s the case, then try breaking it down into more manageable components, ask for additional resources or negotiate the deadline if you are able, or perhaps all of the above.

Hard-stop your time and workload: 

This may involve time boxing the hours you spend on a task or project. It includes leaving the office at a set time or saying no to work requests outside of your normal scope. Saying no to these natural escalations and setting expectations for yourself, to yourself will create more breathing room for yourself to focus on your priorities with fewer distractions.

Don’t expect perfection to be perfect: 

If its one thing that can lead us to make any task or project bigger than what it should be, it is perfectionism. This is a primary culprit behind procrastination and psychological distress. It’s a vicious cycle when things pile up, and the sense of feeling overwhelmed sets in, which can then lead to becoming more procrastinated and more feelings of overwhelm.

Ask yourself right now what the marginal benefit would be of spending more time on a task or project. If you answer ‘very little,’ its time to get it done. 

Recognize that as a human, you physically or mentally simply cannot do everything perfectly. Sometimes an email will get missed. Believe me, if its that important, they will drop another one soon enough.

Use your time wisely: 

First, ask yourself, “what is the best use of my time?” Anything that didn’t fall within your answer can either be taught or delegated to others accordingly. Managing selected tasks or projects, sending a proxy to specific meetings, having others take the lead on interviews or initial pre-meetings are perfect examples of delegating.

Don’t fear your fears: 

If you find yourself continuously feeling overwhelmed, it may be the fact that you are fearing what you think will be the outcome of the task or project if something fell through the cracks or you failed. These assumptions of what the end looks like are not likely 100 percent true. They only occupy space in your brain and need to be identified and debunked as soon as they surface so you can better spend your time focused on the current tasks that need to be completed. 

Final Thoughts

Most of us will feel overwhelmed from time to time due to demands on our work or personal lives. Try some of the strategies above to help mitigate the frequency and degree to which we feel this way.