| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. 12:37 - Jan 27 with 2461 views | Lord_Lucan |
Say you have multiple projects on the go and you are spinning a bit.
You are working on project 1 but you can't concentrate as you keep thinking about project 2, so you start on project 2 but then start thinking about project 3.
Never used to have this problem so now I'm wondering if I genuinely have too much on my plate or if I am burnt out? It's impossible to concentrate and I have found myself on here today which is the last place I should be as I haven't got the time. |  |
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| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 16:35 - Jan 27 with 461 views | Pinewoodblue |
| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 16:08 - Jan 27 by Lord_Lucan |
We have six websites and the only one that isn't operational is our most important one and I think that is the one thing that is bugging me - mainly because it's a bit of an involved upgrade and to be honest I don't understand it - it's above my head. I am struggling to explain to the developer what he needs to do - even though it's in the final stages.
For three of the sites (ecommerce for joe public) we have outsourced SEO and Google ads to India and it's a breeze.
Mookamoo does our graphic stuff and some web changes on a couple of sites, he's always busy but does our stuff in a flash - he's brilliant.
I've come to the conclusion that I'm either burnt out or bored, or both. I only function at 100% capacity when I have a potentially disastrous situation going down and things have been relatively crisis free for a couple of years. |
Tell yourself you are delegating the task, not the responsibility, and let you staff get in with it. |  |
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| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 08:10 - Jan 28 with 377 views | Deano69 |
I can sympathise. I find when my workload is vast I find lots of others things to do (like this) rather than getting on with it. My sleep pattern normally goes haywire too.
It’s the ‘how do I eat an elephant’ syndrome, I have to break projects in to smaller tasks in order of priority. Spend a short while writing a things to do and get small wins to help me get back on track. If there are elements you can sub out (delivery/pickup that sort of thing that is a simple instruction but eats time)
Been like this for 3 or 4 years now on and off with very little time off. It’s is a symptom of burn out I am sure. Plus I have worked fully from home for 2 years now which also doesn’t help. |  |
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| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 08:49 - Jan 28 with 352 views | fab_lover |
Genuine answer:
You might think that you earn the respect of your colleagues / bosses / customers for taking too much on, but the opposite is probably true.
The most powerful word is "no". The fact that you can't focus fully on delivering x because you're worried about delivering y shows that you know you've got too much on and are in danger of letting spinning plate crash.
Assuming you're not self-employed, one of these projects needs to give space to the others. Ultimately, will anyone die if something gets delivered late or only 80% done (the last 20% is always the hardest) ?
If the answer to that is "no", determine which project is going to have to come up short. If all of them are for different customers, you obviously can't tell customer a that their project will be late because of work on customer b's project; you need to be creative (without outright lying) and also sell this to them as a benefit, i.e. "I think there's a risk to the current plan, we need to deliver less and keep the same timeline, or extend the timeline". People will generally understand; that's why you foster good relationships with your clients.
If though it's got the stage where you've having issues sleeping / having to self-medicate / getting in a cold sweat on Sundays thinking about the week ahead, take action and go and see the quack. The jobs market is so buoyant right that it's both easier to find another job, and your employer would be a muppet if they put so much pressure on you that you had to leave.
Anyway, just my advice from having been a PM for many years. Unless someone will die, it's all ultimately not that important, which you need to remember. Good luck. |  | | |
| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 09:35 - Jan 28 with 328 views | BarcaBlue |
Have you considered giving it all up, selling and finding something stress free instead? I think we're of a similar age and until 3 years ago was often working 7 day weeks and 14 hour days.
I sold my part of the company, used the dosh to do something I wanted and now work less than part time, stress free and manage a decent but reduced income.
Looking back I should have done it 5 years earlier but until the pressure and stress got unbearable I couldn't bring myself to make the switch. After I did I realized what an idiot I had been for stringing it out for so long. |  | | |
| Genuine question for people who have too much work on their plate. on 09:44 - Jan 28 with 318 views | ElephantintheRoom |
Relax it’s normal - you’re supposed to plan ahead.
If you want to feel less pompous and absurd remember that most people plan ahead with a shopping list |  |
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