6 Tips to Help You Deal With A Heavy Workload

It’s hard to believe that it is already April!! This year is flying by! Right now I am in the home stretch of my Masters program, so I am juggling final assignments, with my practicum and the blog. Plus, you know, trying to have a life and continue working on my accident rehab. So I’m learning a thing or two about how to deal with a heavy workload!!

6 tips to help you deal with a heavy workload

 

Create a strategy.

If you have a lot of work to do, it can be hard to figure our which tasks to start with. Take a few minutes and write out what you need to do. Then, create a timetable, and slot in all of your tasks. I like to take pen to paper but you could also do it in a spreadsheet if that works for you. Now you have a visual reminder and you can scratch things off as you go along. That’s always my favourite part! 😉

Avoid perfectionism.

Being done is often better than being perfect. You could spend years on the same thing and never finish it, but also never make it perfect. I can definitely be a perfectionist at times. Over the years though I’ve learned when to stop and accept that it might never be perfect but it’s still pretty good!

Figure out what stress looks like for you.

Mindfulness can help you to manage stress. Knowing the signs of stress can help you to manage it before it becomes overwhelming. I tend to get really tight in my neck and shoulders. Getting regular exercise and being mindful that I am not tensing my shoulders really helps. Take some time and really pay attention to your body when you are feeling stress or overloaded. This way you can learn what stress looks like for you since each body is slightly different.

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Be honest about the workload.

If you feel like you need some extra time or help getting things done, tell someone. Getting a little extra support or breathing room can be a great way to alleviate some of the stress and overwhelm. I had to do this over the course of my program with a couple of papers and I am so glad that I did. Asking for help can be hard however most people are willing to give us a hand if we just ask. Having just a few extra days on an assignment can really make all the difference.

Discover i your busyness is effective.

We live in a world where being busy is like a badge of honour. Is all the work that you are doing really necessary? Are you focusing on what needs to be done or just keeping busy doing multiple things. We can fill our days with so many tasks, but are the really necessary?? Maybe they are necessary, but are we working through them in the most effective way? Go back to number one  and choose which ones need the most attention and start there.

Track your time.

This is something that I recently started doing. I’ve found that it is a great way to know how long things actually take. This way I’m never late and I can allocate the right amount of time for each task. These days I am really bad at estimating how long I actually need for each task. By timing myself and tracking my time, I’m a lot better at figuring out what tasks I can do when. It can be surprising how long some things actually take!

Learning how to deal with a heavy workload is important for managing stress and anxiety. Taking on too many tasks and becoming overwhelmed is not helpful for anybody.

These 6 tips can help you to learn how to deal with a heavy workload. Do you have any tips? Let me know in the comments below