It is hard to avoid burnout. Our workdays are filled with back-to-back online meetings and endless email notifications. These days, we seem to have more autonomy over when and how long we work. However, there appears to be a never-ending pile of work to do. We are bombarded with the hustle-hustle-hustle attitude from the office lunchroom to social media. When this is piled on top of homeschooling and work-from-home parenting, it’s no wonder we feel like we are drowning in quicksand.

Recently, some time-management specialists are suggesting people adopt “slow productivity.” In this paradigm shift, you keep your workload at a level where you can focus on one or two things and complete them before adding other projects. It’s another way of saying that multitasking doesn’t work. We know we can’t text and drive our cars. Therefore, we should know that we cannot successfully manage a dozen projects and create high-quality results. Once we come to that realization, we can change how we work.

Tips to Avoid Burnout

If you have employees or hire subcontractors, discuss what constitutes a reasonable amount of work. Create a plan to complete the work, and determine when and how to assign new tasks. Some strategies include:

• Implementing an idea and task capturing system such as a Kanban board to track small jobs and tasks within a project.
• Designating a monthly Tiny Tasks Day where employees clear the backlog of tiny tasks that are not part of larger projects (e.g., updating older blog posts on the company website, organizing the stock room, etc.)
• Scheduling meetings on specific workdays and banning meetings on other days. For example, have most meetings on Mondays and never have meetings on Thursdays. This will give employees large blocks of uninterrupted time to work on projects.
• Encouraging dedicated (monthly) training days for employees to improve their skillsets and make their job easier. For example, employees could take online masterclasses on any software systems they use regularly. Or you can hire Linda for a lunch-and-learn seminar to help your staff better manage their email.
• Relieving performance anxiety on employees by focusing on long-term results. Reward teams for quality performance instead of the quantity of work done in a specific time.

If you’re an employee or sub-contractor, you might feel stressed that you have too much to do and can’t control your time or workload. However, your supervisor may not be aware of all the work you have to do. If this is the case, use a task management system or to-do list to record all the projects you must complete and their due dates. Then, discuss it with your supervisor and ask for clarity on priorities. Your supervisor may be able to help you delegate some tasks or even delete them.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and searching for ways to avoid burnout, book a consultation with the Out of Chaos team or contact us to schedule a productivity workshop.

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