In this post, we will focus on one of the most common types of work-related stress: stress due to overload.
We are different and approach situations and people in different ways depending on our character, education and experiences. So it should be logical to think that we do not get stressed by the same things or tolerate the sources of stress in the same way.
If you want to know more about what is stress in general, the different types of stress and general techniques to reduce it, have a look at the post What is stress and how to manage it.
What is stress due to overload
This type of stress usually shows through a feeling of being overwhelmed by your responsibilities, tasks, duties or circumstances.
On one hand this can be due to an excess of tasks. As the world of work has sped up, in many companies there are less people doing the same work as formerly or even more. That is because it has become more difficult to sell, projects are more complex and deadlines shorter. Therefore many of us have a higher workload to get done in less time.
On the other hand, we may feel stress due to overload when we are assigned new tasks which exceed our knowledge and skills. Businesses evolve and develop new products and technologies. Thus, at many companies workers face a change or evolution of their tasks. As long as we do not acquire the necessary knowledge but continue getting the job done as always, we will have a much harder time and may succumb to the pressure.
If we add to that fact that few of us have been taught at school, college or university work-organisation and productivity skills, we will be surviving by managing issues as they arise. As a solution to an increase of the workload, we will usually come up with extending our work day.
But as the workload increases, this should not be a long-term solution. That is why it becomes more necessary, and even essential to know well the objectives of our tasks and set priorities in order not to fall into the trap of dealing with issues as they arise.
Symptoms of stress due to overload
Usually we will feel anxious, tense and overwhelmed. We might even suffer from mental block which hinders our ability to make a decision and know with which task to continue. This can lead us to procrastination. If the symptoms get worse we might suffer from palpitations, heavy anxiety or panic attacks or even get depressed.
The story of the woodcutter and the axe
Do you know the story of the woodcutter? To sum it up, a woodcutters starts a new job. Being motivated, the first day he chops down 18 trees and his boss congratulates him. So, the next day he starts even earlier, but only manages to cut 15 trees. On the following days the number of trees he manages to bring reduces more and more. Therefore, worried he goes to talk to his boss who asks him “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”. To which the woodcutter replies surprised that he has not had time.
As you see it can be easy to fall into the net of throwing ourselves into work, complaining about the overload, without stopping to sharpen our tools. That is, improving our skills and knowledges and checking whether there is a better and more effective way to carry out our job.
How to deal with stress due to overload
When you feel an attack of overwhelm and anxiety coming, the first step is coming to a halt. Yes indeed, if you feel overwhelmed the solution is not to work more and faster. Quite the opposite, the best is to stop.
Start by taking a moment to breath deeply and slowly. Ideally get out of your chair and walk some steps. If you can, go outside to get some fresh air.
Once you get back to your desk, do not commit the mistake to continue where you left off, assuming you interrupted a task. What is important right now is to review your responsibilities, projects and tasks one by one.
Analyse each task or project
First, go through all projects and tasks in your court. Also review your agenda for the next weeks for meetings requiring preparation. One by one ask yourself the following questions and take notes:
What is the importance for the main goal you or your company want to reach? Is the task still necessary?
Being clear about the issue’s importance, will help you assign priorities and organise tasks accordingly.
As well, business, professional and private priorities can change. Hence, some task or project might actually not be required anymore.
What is the deadline to be reached?
Is the deadline reasonable and feasible? If not, is there a chance to postpone it? In case it cannot be changed, can anybody help you finish on time?
Do you know the final objective and result desired for each issue?
In order to carry out your work effectively, it is necessary to know the objective. For example, it is not the same to prepare a presentation for an internal meeting than for a client. You also need to know which the desired result is. How elaborate does the project’s or task’s result have to be to meet its goal?
Do you know the next action steps to take in each case?
Any project or task, however simple or complex, becomes more manageable when you break it up into small steps and tasks. Start writing down the steps you are clear about. As you do it, you will probably come up with others you had not thought about initially. In the daily hectic grind, we might not always take time for it, which is why certain tasks and steps can weigh on our subconscious and unconsciously stress us.
Next steps may be both tasks to be done by you and tasks to be delegated to others or information to be requested or researched. Or perhaps you might have to wait for some condition or event to happen.
In the case of a project, you might feel anxious thinking you do not make progress. But when you stop to analyse the situation, it may turn out that it is not up to you to take action right now, because another department has to carry out a task first. For these cases, I keep a list of issues “waiting for” in order to take a load off my mind remembering which topic is on hold from whom and when it should be delivered it.
Do you have the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out the project or task?
Just like the woodcutter, who should have stopped to sharpen his axe to be more productive, ask yourself whether you have the knowledge, skills and tools required to carry out the task in question. Perhaps you ought to research something. Maybe you have to look for some tricks and tips to work with some application. Or could it be that you have never thought about creating a project plan. It is never late to start and learn to improve your organisational skills. And it is also a way to sharpen your axe.
In the case of the project plan, it might be a simple Excel file with the different general project areas and corresponding tasks, when they are due, their status and the people in charge of carrying them out.
Or you may even have to enrol into some course, be it online or in-person, be it through your company or by your own means, in order to learn something new or increase your knowledge.
Get an overview
Once you have reviewed each task or project, it is time to have a look at them from a broader perspective.
Do you know which issues are more important and/or urgent?
Previously you asked yourself about the importance of an issue for your or your company’s objective. According to the priorities assigned, now you can put the tasks or projects in order.
If you have doubts about the priorities, ask your boss for a brief meeting to review and clarify them.
Are you sure you are the person to do all tasks?
In the point on next steps, I mentioned the possibility of delegating a task. But once you have a clear picture of the magnitude of your projects and tasks, ask yourself again if you really have to carry out everything on your roof or might delegate some task. Perhaps you cannot make that decision on your own. In that case, discuss it with your boss.
Can you ask for help with any task instead of doing it alone?
In an ideal world, before you are assigned a new task or project you have not done before, somebody would explain it to you or you would receive training. However the reality is that in the daily vortex at many companies, this does not usually happen. So we often have to get by on our own. Therefore do not be afraid to ask a colleague, who has the knowledge, for help. Perhaps he/she might do the task you do not know how to do or have a hard time doing. Or maybe he/she can explain how to do it. If you know that you will be assigned this type of task again in the future, it is obviously better if you learn how to do it.
Schedule the tasks
Now open your agenda again. According to the projects’ and tasks’ deadlines and priorities, schedule in your agenda the tasks to be done on a certain day. Taking into account other commitments scheduled such as meetings, it is convenient to reserve time blocks for tasks requiring a continued period of time for concentration. Also create reminders for tasks to be done on a certain day or information to be requested on a specific date.
Do you feel relieved?
Once you have reviewed these points, you should notice a clearer head. Also you will surely know better where to continue.
The recommendations, we have gone through, are very focused on stress due to overload. But I also suggest you combine them with other general stress-relief techniques.
Have you ever suffered from stress due to overload?
How have you felt? How have you managed to cope with it and overcome it?
