Summary

When it comes to work overload most of my clients look for external solutions. There must be something you can do or buy or watch. But it's not the answer. What if the answer does not lie in finding an external solution but in recognising some fundamental truths about coporate work? Such as "work never ends" or Parkinson's law. This can, in fact, be quiet liberating.

In all of my coaching conversations, one theme comes up again and again. And that is the question of what to do about work overload.

How do you reduce something that seems to be getting bigger and bigger?

And maybe you can see this in your own way of dealing with this problem.

The thing is, most of my clients are looking for an external solution. It could be that one day their boss decides there will be less work. Or maybe certain projects are cancelled.

It could also be the hope that someone else will soon come along and the struggle to keep up with all the work will at least fade or diminish into something manageable.

But will it really?

Hear me out.

Work never ends

The first step in dealing with work overload is to realise that work never ends. This is a simple rule. Add in laws like Parkinson’s law and you’ll understand that there will always be more work.

What that means to you is: “You can never be done with work. It’s a perpetual cycle.”

Now that you’ve learned this (and hopefully accepted it) you can do something about it. Because once you get away from the idea that you have to be done with work, or that you have to try to get your email list down to zero – you can shift your focus to the important things and let go of work that doesn’t serve you or your career.

How you do this is another question. You can use the Pareto Principle or you can work with the Eisenhower Matrix. There are plenty of tools out there to help you.

What matters is that you identify the work that serves your goals and ultimately your career. All that nitty-gritty stuff? Let it go.

As a leader, you’re expected to delegate, so delegate. You’re also expected to say no. And saying no can be a superpower. So use it.

Back to the point. Understanding that you need to focus on the tasks that really matter must (by definition) free up time for you. Or what happened to all those small or less important tasks you were doing a moment ago?

What do you need to achieve?

If that feels difficult, go back to the drawing board. Ask yourself what your role is and what is expected from you. How do your goals align with your employer’s and which projects or tasks will get you there. It’s really as simple as that.

No, after 20 years in the corporate world, I understand well that many tasks will come your way and it won’t always be easy to not do them or to delegate them. That might be a fact just as much as you being the leader means you need to be in a position to handle certain thing.

And there are so many tools to help you with this throughout your day. It can be blocking time for deep work, it can be taking time to not think at all.

All right, let’s return to the original topic of this post, which was “is doing “nothing” maybe the solution”. And I don’t know the answer for sure. But what I do know is that everyone is looking for something in addition to what’s already there.

A solution of sorts. But that solution must be found somewhere, in a book, in a youtube video. But it’s the same dilemma I wrote about in yesterday’s post about that “elusive future”. It remains elusive.

And that should be the best thing about it: Want to change and learn how to deal with work overload? Great, you can do it this very moment. No need to wait. No need to buy anything to make that happen. Just implement what you already know and finally feel that sense of relief. But ask yourself whether right now you’re racing or thriving.