If you’re reading this, please know that hope isn’t lost. Many of us have been there and needless to say, it is difficult to get through even with support.
Workload paralysis is a term that started emerging over the past several years as the rise in responsibilities has quickly overshadowed fair pay and proper working hours. With some companies requiring people to be available until the late hours of the evening, it’s no wonder workload paralysis has become a debilitating factor in the workplace.
Workload Paralysis is Real
Exhaustion, an inability to stay focused on tasks, missing deadlines, and an unsetting fear of more work being thrown at you. Sound familiar?
That’s workload paralysis. You’re stuck, can’t move forward and before you know it, even more tasks pile up.
There are few causes for this type of psychological impairment and usually it’s a combination of factors. First, there’s health issues and second is an imbalance of work.
How to Handle the Main Causes
In order to cut these issues off at the pass, it’s a good idea to take advantage of vacation hours, sick days, and your health insurance. What this means is actually taking vacation days, going to appointments and caring for your health ahead of time. If you know you get sinus infections during allergy season, watch your symptoms and talk to your doctor preemptively.
When you take care of yourself, this is going to help you have more energy to devote to work and consequently, to yourself. Instead of worrying about tasks, you can get them done more easily!
Now, with ill-divided work, that’s a whole other issue. If your responsibilities are building up, check your original job description: are these responsibilities included? If they are, then you probably need to utilize some of the strategies below. If not, then you need to talk to your manager.
If your manager is unwilling to decrease the workload, then take the situation up to HR. It will definitely help you have backing when talking to leadership and it will also document that this is an issue. Not only are you helping yourself, you will be helping others too!
Time Management in Fast-Paced Environments
Not everyone does well with a fast-paced environment.
Read that again.
Are you someone who does well with this kind of environment normally? If you are, then it’s time to think about talking to your doctor about the symptoms that are popping up.
If not, then there’s a big part of the issue! Fast environments require a substantial ability to manage time, prioritize, and collaborate.
Managing time can take a lot of practice but it relies on communication, planning ahead, and being aware of your time limits. If you don’t operate under these three tenets when managing your time, then you will definitely fall behind.
Break It Down Now Y’all
If you feel like you are ready to break down every time you look at a project, then you are probably overwhelmed. This is why it is important to break down important projects, really any project, before you dive in head first.
One of the issues of workload paralysis is not being able to see the path to completion on a project. Instead, anxiety gets in the way to a debilitating measure and your body may even start to feel sick.
Breaking down projects helps by making both visual elements and to-do lists smaller and often includes smaller due dates that can help you get work done on a more manageable timeline. Without separating tasks from the overall workload, the mind and body are going to automatically attach to the anxiety of a massive project.
Death to Distractions
I’m all for small breaks throughout the day. They can help you refocus, give your brain a break, and help you adjust to the difficulties of the day. When workload paralysis hits though, those breaks can become exponentially longer and more frequent as the dread sets in.
To combat this, set timers for yourself to decrease the distractions around you. Put your phone to the side, take breaks away from your computer screens, close your office door, or maybe turn on some music. Each of these can help you refocus and decrease the need for distraction.
Depending on the job, there are some distractions that are highly unavoidable. If you work in a very people focused field, then people are a constant distraction even if they are a part of your work. Set meeting times with yourself and block off your schedule so your team can see when you need to focus.
It’s okay to ask people to respect your time!
Conclusion
Workload paralysis is an absolute beast to try and handle without guidance. Hopefully these tips and how to employ them is going to help you find the way out of the paralysis pit.
It’s going to be hard, but you can do this. Take care of yourself, get the major deadlines handled first, and the rest will follow suit.