How to Overcome Your Overwhelm at Work

I was not wondering. Rob (name changed) deals with overwhelm a lot. I met him during a McKinsey strategy bootcamp that I took part in.

Rob was my coach for a session on personal development. Right from the start I knew: An ambitious consultant will have deep insights on how to deal with overwhelm. And I was right.

Getting to the roots

When I described my problem — having too many topics at the same time, constantly lagging behind tasks and struggling to prioritize and feeling guilty — Rob suggested we work through a question framework.

The aim: Identifying the root of the overwhelm. And then seeing which parts of that we can limit.

His first question was hitting home:

1) “Does the problem with overwhelm exist as you take on too much intrinsically, or because tasks thrown at you rather extrinsically?”

Defining my boundaries

While I have to sit a bit longer and think about that, my first impulse was: in 30% of cases, I take on too much. In 70% tasks are thrown at me — and no one knows the scope or resources required.

Rob proceeded, very efficient in his consultant manner:

2) Alright. Then is there a solution you can think of to limit the problem physically? Do you struggle to say no?

Well, I do not struggle to say no anymore. But I did struggle to say no in the past — which was why so many topics landed on my table. I tried to follow them all.

Very overwhelming, very inefficient, very unsatisfying.

While after some time, I managed to delegate everything that other people could do for me (kudos to myself, this only took me five years of having a job), I still have three major physical problems.

I receive shitloads of mails for my current projects. I have a large number of topics. And those go along with extensive topic-related discussions.

3) Can you think of a better approach to these aspects than your current one?

What to do immediately

Rob made me recognize: I do not struggle to give tasks to others or say no anymore. However, I could manage my time more efficiently and set my boundaries much better. Two examples:

• There is that one colleague who I really appreciate. He loves to philosophize about topics. And he sometimes gets lost in details. Too many details. That’s definitely something that I have to moderate and limit to appreciate my own time.
• There’s also a project where I am involved in calls of which only some of the contents are relevant for me. So for the future, I need to limit my time in the calls tailored to receiving the information relevant to me.

Use the resources of your organization

4) Are you making others part of your problem?

Rob wanted to know whether I could proactively reach out for support more often. Whether I call my boss when I cannot prioritize anymore. Whether there are further colleagues with capacities who I could involve in my tasks for support.

I learned that there are people who always reach out — who always make others part of their problem. Who push their agenda. You are either instrumentalized by those people — and dedicate time to their problems. Or: You make people part of yours.

Admittedly that’s also something I can do more. I tend to take too much ownership, thinking I have to solve everything myself.

Key takeaway: Work with your overwhelm

After the coaching session with Rob, I had learned that we are not entirely responsible for overwhelm in these fast-paced times. At the same time, we are not entirely powerless.

For me, it definitely helped to outline the root cause and identify the parts of my overwhelm that I can control — if I take appropriate action.

The first thing I am going to do is start making others part of my problems much more. And I hope this will make my life a lot easier.

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