Sometimes everything gets a little crazy, you know the times I’m talking about. When you show up to work on a Monday, and even though everything was perfectly fine on Friday, it has all gone up in flames. You yourself have 30 unread emails and 8 missed calls, every single one of your account reps has problems that require your immediate attention, and your office manager is gone this week. So what can you do to not lose your mind? We have a few tips to help get you through.
Take A Deep Breath
While this may seem obvious, it can make a big difference. Taking a minute to take a few deep breaths allows you to slow down and reduces stress immediately. Taking the time to dial back your stress levels lets you move forward with a clearer head to deal with the problems at hand.
Do A Quick Evaluation
Next do a quick evaluation of what needs to be done, making a list usually helps the most. It shows you exactly what all needs to be done and gives you a quick reference as you move forward. Making a list also makes everything feel a little more manageable; when you can see what your priorities are it is easy to get more things done, without feeling as overwhelmed.
See Who Really Needs Help
You know your people best, so take a moment to see who actually needs your help right away. If your most efficient, highest ranking guys are asking for you, it’s probably pretty important, especially if they don’t usually need you. If it is lower level, the problem might be able to be addressed by someone besides you. Ask your higher-ranking employees to deal with some of those questions while you work on the more pressing issues.
Take It One Thing At A Time
This is where your list will really come in handy, take each task one thing at a time. When there are a million things that need to get done, it can be easy to try and work on as many of them at once at possible, but all that accomplishes is a bunch of tasks that are half done or not done well. Taking each thing on its own means that you can get it done, and get it done right the first time.
Accept That Not Everything Is Going To Get Done
This might be the hardest part of dealing with work when it is crazy, but it is important! Not everything is going to get done, and it doesn’t need to. When things go crazy quick, it feels like it all has to be dealt with immediately, but it doesn’t. Use your list here again, see what can wait a day or two, or a week or two. If it isn’t going to matter tomorrow, don’t let it make today harder.