Do you feel overwhelmed, exhausted and burned-out? Are you a “doer” who can’t seem to stop working? Do you have deadlines that are approaching rapidly and nothing is getting done? Are you fearful that if you make time for yourself, everything will fall apart?
Our work lives have become increasingly demanding, presenting us with ever more complex challenges at a near-relentless pace. Add in personal or family needs, and it’s easy to feel constantly overwhelmed. This can lead to a spiral of negative emotions that can seem impossible to escape from.
Overwhelmed? It’s time to slow down.
The Feeling Overwhelmed In Work And Life Syndrome is common and very real. Primarily, this syndrome occurs in our personal and family life, but it can carry over to our work life as well. Focusing on projects often begins with good intentions but we can quickly and easily be overwhelmed if we do not have a plan to minimize and balance our work.
Getting the project finished for your team, writing the copy for your website, designing the new sales brochure or completing the 90-day marketing plan are extremely important – but having a balanced, healthy life is equally important.
Feeling overwhelmed in life and work is a fact of life. It can be frustrating, draining and stressful. To get more control over your working life, try these tips:
Eliminate and prioritize
Start by eliminating those duties that are no longer relevant or important. Remove the clutter in your office and drawers, unsubscribe from unimportant e-mail lists, and decrease clutter at home or at the office! Simplify your life and focus on your top priorities by eliminating the unnecessary tasks of life. This will make you more productive and reduce the stress in your life too.
Be socially selective
Be selective as to who you’re around, as it could make all the difference in your life. Don’t spend time with negative people. Be true to who you are and surround your life with people who support and inspire you. They say you are the product of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Choose wisely.
Get support
You are not alone! Ask for help from friends and family, or take a class or hire a coach. You can have a balanced life and learn to say “No”, even to your favorite causes. Getting organized and seeking support can go a long way towards reducing the stress of life, getting organized at home and balancing your workload too. Call a friend to have coffee and share what is going on.
Set boundaries and say “No”
If you feel overwhelmed with work and life, try setting boundaries on your time and workload. This can include reducing the hours you spend on a task or project, leaving the office by a certain time, or saying no to specific types of work. Setting boundaries on your time and workload can reduce your stress levels, improve your productivity, and allow you to focus on what’s most important to you.
Challenge your perfectionism
Perfectionism can lead us to make tasks or projects bigger than they need to be, which can lead to procrastination and psychological distress. Know when “good” is “good enough” by asking yourself, “What is the marginal benefit of spending more time on this task or project?” If the answer is very little, stop where you are and be done with it.
Outsource or delegate
There are plenty of things you can’t do that you need to delegate or outsource. Think about what tasks would be the highest and best use of your time, and then ask yourself who on your team could handle these tasks instead. You will gain confidence in your people by trusting them with important tasks, and they will also trust you as a leader.
Take a break
You may not be able to stop procrastinating altogether, but you can learn to manage it better. It’s not just about making time for your work; it’s also about taking time out of your day to recharge your mental and emotional batteries. Once you do that, you can start thinking more clearly and act more calmly under pressure— which is something we all need in today’s busy world.
It’s good to take a break and do something different, so you can shift your perspective. Try a few minutes of deep breathing, meditating or going for a walk in nature and relax.
Sleep
Stress, lack of sleep, and feeling out of control are all contributors to burnout.
Want to feel happier, more successful and motivated in life? Get more sleep. There are many reasons to get enough sleep, and one of the most important is the impact it has on your health.
“How to succeed? Get more sleep!”, according to The Huffington post founder, Arriana Huffington. This is a book that everyone who feels overwhelmed by work and life will want to read. In her New York Times bestseller “The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time“, Huffington shows how our cultural dismissal of sleep as time wasted compromises our health and our decision-making and undermines our work and personal lives.
Sleep is at the epicenter of most aspects of our lives, affecting how well we eat, how efficiently we exercise, and the quality of our work.
The Sleep Revolution shows us how to change our relationship with sleep and embrace it as the key that can unlock an abundance of happiness, creativity, productivity, and health.
The Sleep Revolution | Arianna Huffington | Talks at Google
Arianna Huffington stopped by YouTube HQ to discuss her latest book “The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time.” Arianna Huffington is the co-founder, president, and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group, author of 15 books, and has been named to both the Forbes Most Powerful Women list and Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people.