What do you do if your time management skills as a social worker are causing future failures?

If time is drowning you, here's some help! Keep track of what you consume throughout the day. Do the most essential duties first, such as helping clients. Plan everything, including breaks! Keep track of your to-do list with a phone app. Similar tasks, such as calling back, should be grouped together. If you are feeling overwhelmed then Ask for help from coworkers or respectfully decline extra work. Take breaks to prevent burnout. You can do anything. Remember: a happy social worker is a more successful social worker!

Social workers should know our gifts, talents, strengths, and weaknesses. We often overwhelm and over-commit ourselves because we don't exercise grace and boundaries. Many times, we say yes when we should say no. We all have limitations, and we create chaos by doing so much that we burn ourselves out by running from one appointment to another without acknowledging time for ourselves and our jobs. When we ignore time, we often make careless mistakes because we rush through the day and weeks.

1 thing that is probably missing and is very important to follow is prioritization. Most if the times people do not prioritize & hence spend time in urgent matters which may not be important. I try to follow a 4 D approach which I had learnt in some trying programme myself: D - Do it (if there is something you can do and close in less than 2 mins, just do it and get over it) D - Delete it (if there is something which is not relevant just delete it) D - Delegate (if there is something which is to be done by someone else, could be your colleagues, your team, or for that matter some other team - just delegate it) D - Defer it (only after you have done the above 3, you defer something which you are unable to act now) I found this very useful

Social workers engage in meaningful work that can be extremely stressful as many situations are literally life-altering. Granting yourself grace is critical to being available mentally, physically or emotionally for your next client. Self-care is a lifestyle, not a big event. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Quality self-care is proactive, not reactive. It’s what you do to ensure you aren’t depleted or defeated. Take care of yourself. Know that you are making a difference. Continue to expand your knowledge and skills. Progress and improvement will be inevitable.

Remember that everyone starts somewhere, no one is perfect, mistakes are opportunities to grow and don’t forget to share your expertise with the next generation of social workers.