Essential Steps for Leaders Who Feel Overwhelmed

This is a contributed post to JMLalonde.com. For more information on contributing a post, please see our contributing policies.

Leaders in business may often find themselves feeling overwhelmed. When you have a lot to do and only a limited amount of time to use, it can seem like you’re never really going to be able to get everything done. Some periods may also be busier than others, making you feel even more rushed off your feet. When you start to feel overwhelmed, it’s important not to just try and push ahead without changing anything. You could be at risk of burnout if you keep going without dealing with stress or asking for help.

When you start to feel overwhelmed, you can use a range of methods to deal with things and reduce your stress levels. You can also take steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed in the future.

Women in a meeting

Photo by Rebrand Cities from Pexels

Prioritize and Set Clear Goals

Prioritizing your workload is an essential skill that every leader needs to have. If you’re not able to identify which tasks are most important and need to be completed first, you’re guaranteed to be overwhelmed by the multiple things that you need to do. You should be able to set clear goals to meet, both on a daily basis and more long-term. When you’re prioritizing your tasks, you might need to consider a number of factors. Firstly, you will need to consider any deadlines that you may have. Then you will have to think about the consequences of completing a task, or alternatively delaying it or even not completing it at all.

Learn to Delegate

No leader can do everything on their own. You have to be able to ask for help from other people, even though it can be difficult to let go of control. Being able to delegate to other people will save you time and it will also give them the opportunity to build their skills and experience. There are many tasks that you can delegate to others, from admin tasks to more complicated projects. Identify the people on your team who are capable of taking on these tasks or who can learn how to do them.

Outsource Essential Services

As well as delegating, you can get help when you’re overwhelmed by outsourcing some essential tasks. You don’t always have enough staff or the skills to take on the work that you need to do, but you can look for services that can do it for you. If you hire an agency offering PPC services and other digital marketing services, they can do a lot more for you than your in-house employees may be capable of. You can get a whole marketing team for a much lower cost and they can help you to achieve your goals while saving you a lot of time.

Three women working around a table

Image from Pexels – CC0 License

Make Use of Your Free Time

It can be very hard to switch off when you have an important role in your work life. But leaders need to take downtime just like anyone else. When you have free time, avoid using it for work as much as possible. Not only is it essential for you to have your own downtime, but it also allows everyone else on your team to enjoy their time off. Use your free time to relax and focus on something other than work. You might have deadlines to meet, but there are very few things that won’t still be there for you when you next go to work.

Control Notifications and Communication

One of the things that can be very hard to manage is all of the distractions that come from notifications and people trying to contact you. Constant notifications from apps, emails, messages, and phone calls can disturb you when you’re trying to work, making it hard to concentrate. If this is a problem that you deal with, you should try to control your incoming communications so that you can deal with them when it’s suitable for you. Turn off notifications on key apps and software, and set times for when you’re able to deal with emails or phone calls, or check your social media.

Manage Your Time Effectively

Efficient time management is something that no leader can live without. If you’re not managing your time effectively, you’re guaranteed to be overwhelmed by everything that you have to do. Setting deadlines is one of the most important things that you can do if you want to make good use of your time. It will allow you to prioritize what you need to do based on when you have to complete certain tasks.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, make some changes so that you can make it easier to manage your time and deal with stress.

Follow Me

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.