Comments on: How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

By: Relieving stress – 8 excellent articles « Always Well Within

Relieving stress – 8 excellent articles « Always Well Within — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 14:06:25 +0000

[...] 6. How to stop feeling overwhelmed – Karl Staib at Work Happy Now “So you’re stressed out and you have too much to complete. What do you do? Usually someone does the opposite of what they should really do. They try to rush through to get as much done as possible without being aware of their body signals.” [...]

By: Denver Virtual Assistant

Denver Virtual Assistant — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 17:53:46 +0000

Nice post Karl. I am around a lot of people who always seem as if they need to unwind. These simple steps are nice reminders for us all.

By: Stacey Shipman

Stacey Shipman — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 03:59:21 +0000

Stress is, literally, in our heads. It’s thoughts. It’s control and it’s a lack of awareness. I also think it’s a little bit of narcissism. When we’re not present, as you mentioned above, there is stress. If we slow down, breathe and stay in the moment (easier said than done!) there is no stress. Truly. It takes practice to get there because having the tools handy and accessing them isn’t as easy (unfortunately) as reading a blog post.

A topic near and dear to my heart!

By: Lance

Lance — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:00:52 +0000

Karl,
Over the years, I have really worked at focusing on the idea of “this too shall pass”. While there can still be moments, remembering this thought has done wonders. I also *try* to focus on single-tasking instead of multi-tasking. When I do this, I am fully focused on the one thing in front of me, instead of only partially focused on several things.

By: Walter

Walter — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:56:32 +0000

The pointer you have shared here are no easy task to achieve. However, in my experience, they are a powerful means to reduce pressure. Therefore, one must master the principles you ave shared here.

By: Karl Staib - The Work Happy Guy

Karl Staib - The Work Happy Guy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:14:52 +0000

Hi Evita, Getting overwhelmed can happen so easily. We just need to be mindful and have ready to use techniques that help us relax and stay productive.

Hi Positively Present, Thank you.

Hi Tess, We can get caught in a viscous cycle if we aren’t careful. By slowing down we help stop that cycle and find time to relax or at least reduce our stress.

Hi Sue, Talking with the people that ask you to do the work is a great way to nip the pain in the bud. There are times others have unrealistic expectations. They need to know this and help us create a better schedule.

Hi Chris, We can’t ever lose sight of our needs because if we aren’t happy we aren’t doing our best work.

Hi J.D., Speed is very important. We have to know when to stomp on the gas or when to ease up.

By: J.D. Meier

J.D. Meier — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:30:00 +0000

I’m a fan of using speed for results — whether it’s slowing down to enjoy the moment, or speeding up to make something a game and stay fully engaged.

By: Chris Edgar

Chris Edgar — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:25:09 +0000

Hi Karl — thanks for this — paying attention to how we’re feeling is something I think we could all benefit from doing a little more often when we’re sitting in front of our computers — when we get lost in the content of what we’re doing we can lose sight of our own needs and get stressed and resentful.

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 19:03:44 +0000

Hi Karl,

These are some great suggestions for coping with feeling overwhelmed by a heavy load–whether at work or just as part of life. I like your idea of making the decision to just deliberately slow down and really focus on the one task in front of you for a set period of time. Based on my work experiences, this is absolutely crucial if you’re dealing with complex data or information and accuracy is absolutely critical to the project. Trying to push harder and go faster in these circumstances pretty much guarantees there will be oversights, errors or omissions which really lead to more stress. I’m sure there’s a reason for the expression “Haste makes waste…”

Sometimes recognizing that one is feeling completely overwhelmed and frantic and actually deciding to take a break to regroup, eat a healthy snack, or do a few quick stretches might be a better choice than changing pace. I’ve seen–and experienced first hand–what happens when people do not stop to take the breaks that their body and mind need to rejuvenate every few hours and it generally leads to crankiness, poorer performance with ultimately more errors due to fatigue or the stress of feeling overwhelmed, and a lower morale in the office.

Sometimes it might be the case that the amount of work and time lines given actually are quite unrealistic and what is needed is a chat with the supervisor about reassessing the workload or estimates of how long it will actually take to complete a project and do some negotiating around extending deadlines, especially if it’s framed in terms of providing the best possible service to the client whether internal or external to the organization. If this happens on a regular basis, then I would say that the person assigning the projects maybe needs some gentle education around what is reasonable and realistic. (Easier said than done, though.)

Hope these additional thoughts on the subject are helpful.

By: Tess The Bold Life

Tess The Bold Life — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:49:14 +0000

Karl,

Just the words “Not so fast” work for me. I try to do too much at once, get overwhelmed, then procrastinate, then get going again…unfocused. How’s that for a confession!

Your blog is very helpful for ADHD people like me!