Feeling overwhelmed at work isn’t fun, even if it is being overcome by good projects. My story is probably fairly typical – realizing in a moment of panic that I had too many different responsibilities and too many projects. If Bill Burnett and Dave Evans had written “Designing Your Work Life” back then, I might have noticed these as symptoms of Overwhelm. Who am I kidding? I didn’t make time back then for reading!
Spinning Plates
At the time of this story, I was in an aggressive mindset. I was focused on accelerating my learning, proving my value, pleasing colleagues, impressing clients, and “doing a good job.” I had somehow picked up, and bought into, the metaphor that my value was tied to how many plates I could keep spinning. And not just apprentice plastic ones, but more and more china ones.
I had not yet truly learned how to raise my hand or how to nurture an environment for collaboration. I was all about executing my job description. If I was put in the role, wasn’t it because I was expected to be able to do the role, without help?
Some of the “too much” was assuming someone else – some mythical figure – was aware of my capacity and I wouldn’t be assigned more than I could handle. And some of the “too much” was my eagerness to learn at every interesting opportunity.
Brain Fizzle
I walked into a performance review feeling generally alright about my work, my achievements, and my competence. But I was mostly hoping that the meeting wouldn’t actually take very long because I needed to get back to spinning plates. Yikes! That should have set off warning bells for “Overwhelm!” all on its own.
I sat down and looked at two smiling faces who were bursting to share the news and celebrate – a promotion! I felt a huge rock drop in my stomach and my brain started to fizzle. My self talk included – A promotion means MORE work!? I can’t handle any more! If I tell them I can’t even handle the work I have now, what happens? Am I actually considering rejecting a promotion?? Take a deep breath!!
And that’s when I suddenly realized that I had been enduring a state of overwhelm for a while, and that it wasn’t sustainable.
Relief from Overwhelm
I don’t know how long I paused. I vaguely recall the smiling faces losing some energy but they hung in. When I put my self talk away and actually engaged, I remember a huge, lung emptying sigh, and my shoulders dropping, and then I leaned back in the chair. I don’t remember the discussion, but I remember a lot of relief. I hadn’t realized that I was already performing at the new level, but they had. It wasn’t going to be a whole new thing. And they related immediately to the metaphor of the spinning plates. They confirmed communication channels and support so that we could put some of the plates down and share more of the spinning.
The Good News
It’s hard to realize you’re overwhelmed if, as in my case, you get so laser focused on just keeping plates spinning, and basically holding your breath anxious not to hear any crashes. But you aren’t thriving if you are simply surviving. It’s worth checking yourself regularly, and getting some feedback from those around you. The good news about overwhelm, is that once identified, you can engage in moving out of it. You can ask for help, negotiate out of things, defer, delegate, transfer, etc.
You could be surprised how soon you actually increase your productivity. Implementing the solution can also have the benefit of further building trust and collaboration, so it is well worth it.
