Overcoming Overwhelm in a Remote First World

Overwhelm???

It’s a feeling many of us experience as we navigate an ever-growing to-do list, peer pressure, remote working that seems to have no start and finish, and the strange thoughts that pop up in our head all related to how much we must do.?

I know I have experienced all of these?‘pressures’?at one point,?as I suspect most people have.?I have coped,?as I?am sure you have?too.?

Interestingly this?‘challenge’?is being discussed more as our work-life boundaries take a?hammering.??

A couple of years ago, we knew it would take time to arrive at work, and we accepted that was how it was, yet now that extra hour is being repurposed to be in front of our P.C.?or to agree you can complete another project.?

Or you spend an hour of distracted time looking at old emails, tidying up your hard drive, secretly surfing Instagram and then feeling guilty; all activities that absolutely will bring up the overwhelmed feeling.?

Working remotely has many advantages though getting a true perspective on what is happening isn’t one of them.?

As we explore this popular topic?during Q4?of a strange year?with?workplace fatigue rife- I have a question for you; what if we viewed overwhelm?differently???

Talking to a coach friend of mine recently, we discussed?various emotions?we?‘wallow’?in?that don’t serve us.?

In other?words,?we complain?about?how busy we are and how overwhelmed,?which doesn’t serve us at all in producing any of the results we want.?

And deep down,?we know that. We indulge in an emotion like overwhelm and feel guilty about it too.?

What if we stood back and decided to handle how our?‘overwhelmed’?reaction plays out in our life??

Here is a?three-step?strategy I employ that might work for you.?

What Are?the?Actual?Facts??

It is far too easy to miscalculate exactly what needs to be delivered by when and by whom!?As we have mentioned in a few?previous posts, our minds can run away with us?as they attempt to keep us safe as they?‘try’?to persuade us that we can’t possibly do what is asked.?

Best to get the facts.?

Something I discovered a few years ago was the concept of an Activity Inventory. Here I listed down exactly what I was doing every fifteen minutes across the day. It was amazing how much?‘stuff’?I was doing which wasn’t necessary or could be delegated or was me wasting time!?

The next revelation from this process?was?this a project or task??

It is a simple question and the culprit of many overwhelmed clients who list things to?‘do’?only to discover it’s full of projects, not tasks.?

Designing a new performance management system is a project. Agreeing the key departments involved is a task. Understanding this concept alone will lower your stress levels as you start to project plan properly.?

Then,?of course,?think about the d…….?word. Does?this project or?its series of tasks?must?be done by me???

Put your need to control to one side and, where possible, delegate to someone in the team who can deliver the task.?

Prioritise Your Planner?

It’s funny, isn’t it that when we are going on holiday, we rarely complain about being overwhelmed. Everything gets listed down in our planner or online diary as we think about what needs to happen while we are away.?

And on top of that, somehow, we can power through things in less time than usual.?

Hot tip:?don’t?reserve this energy for your holidays.?

Time plays tricks on us, according to?Parkinson’s Law, which reveals the uncomfortable truth that?work expands to fill the time available for its completion.?

Don’t we all know that as the truth!?

Switch off all distractions, put a DND notice on your office and phone and have a competition with yourself.??

That task you think will probably take two hours- trim it down to one and see what happens. You might be surprised how much you can get through.?

Mind-Body Connection?

Planning and working your work diary?are?vital, and planning free time is also critical if you want to remove your feeling of overwhelm.?

There are many different ideas on focus time and how long it should be.?However,?one thing remote working can deliver is time away from the desk.?

Take time outside;?a short?10–15-minute?stroll away from anything electronic can work wonders in de-stressing.?

It still fascinates me that?focusing?on these three straightforward strategies made a huge difference to my experience of feeling overwhelmed- let me know if they work for you.?

Until next time,???

Julia Carter???

?About Julia Carter

Julia Carter is the MD of?Zestfor?Ltd?and?specialises in working with leaders and managers of virtual teams to improve team effectiveness.

How Can We Help Your Personal Performance????

At?Zestfor?we offer a range of custom-built personalised coaching and development programmes to suit the needs of a leader, individual or team that can be delivered face-to-face or virtually to work flexibly with geographically dispersed team members and their workloads.??Click here for a full programme description?or?contact us here.