Dealing with Overwhelm: Our Top Tips
A common theme among our clients over the past few months has been that they and their organizations are feeling overwhelmed.
This overwhelm is stemming from a combination of exhaustion from all the changes of the past three years, the added effort of figuring out how we will work moving forward, uncertainties about current business and financial markets, and inconsistent focus within our organizations.
What this looks like is leaders and their staffs feeling like they are spread too thin, have too many things on their plates, are not feeling efficient nor effective, are not feeling like they are accomplishing their important goals, and many of us feeling downright exhausted.
There are many ways to address these issues ranging from organizational strategic planning to individual time management skills. Somewhere between those macro and micro approaches, we have found a place to start that quickly puts a short-term plan in place to get yourself and your team focused.
We recommend following three steps to complete a simple priority analysis. This Spark handout will take you through the following steps to understand the scope of your work and what percentage of time you are spending on your primary buckets of work, then make strategic choices about changes you will make to get back in control of your work effort, maximize your impact, and bring the most value to your organization:
1) Current Work Priorities and Percentages
2) Ideal Priorities and Percentages
3) Identify and Prioritize What You Want to Change
Download the interactive Spark handout for Dealing with Overwhelm, here.
Once you have clarity on your priorities and how you want to use your time to achieve your goals, you can then apply that clarity of priorities to how you manage your time, your inbox, and your focus to more effectively manage the overwhelm. When you are ready to refresh your organization’s strategic plan, you reorganize your priorities to align.
For more information or assistance with priority management, strategic planning, or time management skills, reach out to us here at Spark Executive Solutions. We would love to help you start this year feeling organized, calm, and energized.
