Do you remember when you had the goal of moving into your first leadership role; you were so excited and enthusiastic?
At last, you could put all your skills to good use. Create the vision for the team, and become the leader you had always wanted to be as you led your team to success.
You probably hadn’t anticipated the ever-growing to-do list, the plates you have to spin while performing at your highest level, and how somedays distractions created more procrastination than you ever expected.
Sound familiar?
I suspect it does.
You aren’t alone, by the way; overwhelm, procrastination, and the need to be productive are a constant challenge for today’s leaders.
The last decade has seen more of you suffering from overwork, imposter syndrome and burnout as you strive to ‘power through’, to ‘get it all done’.
Our modern workplace, access to A.I. technology that allows us to be ‘available’ 24/7 across the globe is set to increase rather than go away.
‘I’m overwhelmed!’ ‘I’m procrastinating again’ and the painful ‘I feel like I have achieved nothing today’ are comments many clients share with us on the various leadership trainings we run at Zestfor.
So today, I want to share a few nuggets with you to help you understand what is happening as you navigate your way through to achieving more in less time and without overwhelm and burnout.
Let’s start with the ‘O’ word and a simple strategy I use on a daily basis as I control my primitive brain!
Overwhelm
“I’m overwhelmed” is a common feeling that happens as a result of a thought about all the things we have going on.
Annoyingly it can strike all of us at some point in our working lives. That is why I write about it so often, as it is a constant we need to handle.
Don’t shoot the messenger, but overwhelm is an indulgent emotion.
Really…? Yes, it is because it’s always self-inflicted.
Let me explain a strategy I use to handle feeling overwhelmed. First, I identify the thought that is causing it.
For example, “I’ll never get this training course designed by Friday.”
Time to check in and challenge a few assumptions I am making.
- Does it need to be completed by Friday?
- Could I get help from one of the team?
- What can I move in my diary?
- Is this a project I can divide into tasks?
All logical actions our primitive brains forget to remind us about. Planning, prioritising and managing our ‘overwhelmed thoughts’ actually works.
Remember, time is a mental construct and, consequently, something we miscalculate constantly. I am sure you have all heard of Parkinsons law and how work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
What if you factored less time, stopped procrastinating, which we will come onto, and added tasks into your diary and stuck to them?
You then might be surprised how your overwhelm reduces.
It’s fascinating that we can feel overwhelmed, and yet the few days before a holiday, we can achieve a huge amount of work as we truly focus on the task at hand.
This might surprise you, and this opportunity is available to you all the time, provided you have a plan to park the procrastination.
Procrastination
Procrastination is something we all do. It’s natural to avoid certain parts of our role because it’s uncomfortable, and we risk rejection or failure as we strive to be a perfectionist on top of everything else.
The annoying thing about procrastination is that it now seeps into all areas of our lives as we are bombarded by constant distractions.
The dopamine hit of a WhatsApp notification on our phone or an email dropping in – and the list goes on.
I’m not perfect at avoiding distractions either. In the process of writing this post, I nearly fell foul of a quick Google search which then displayed an advert for a particular garden tool I want to buy! I’ll admit it, I clicked; though I recovered fast!
A simple secret for you: Planning can neutralise procrastination.
Think ahead, manage your thinking and plan time in your diary that aligns with your peak energy times. Prioritise the key tasks that you need to do and delegate or delete others.
Identify the task and then map out the time. I always amaze myself with how quickly you can get through things that our ‘mad minds’ have blown up out of all proportion.
Get detailed with this and use time slots in your diary. Please don’t assume this is far too simple to work. It isn’t. All of my business owners and entrepreneurial friends use this process with great success.
Finally, let’s talk about productivity.
Productivity
I am sure the penny has dropped for many of you reading this post. The ideas and strategies to handle overwhelm and procrastination naturally lead to your ability to be more productive.
Being productive is a skill I am always quizzed about in training courses. I have written about it before on the Zestfor blog and from multiple angles. You can read about being productive here and here.
Productivity is about planning, organisation and delegation whilst also being grounded in how we manage our energy levels.
It is hard to be productive when you lack sleep, rest, exercise, or eating all of the wrong foods. I share more in a previous post here.
I have shared a number of strategies that always work to navigate feeling overwhelmed, wanting to procrastinate and then accelerating your productivity; are you ready to get started?
Until next time,
Julia Carter
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