How to Deal With a High Volume of Work
Oftentimes, a high volume of work at your job comes with feelings of stress. In some cases, a heavy workload may also cause you to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. While dealing with a high volume of work without any stress may not be possible, there are tips and techniques you can follow to reduce the stress of handling a heavy workload.
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Minimize Distractions
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De-cluttering your space and minimizing distractions is one of the first steps to properly handling a heavy workload. Working in a cluttered space is not only distracting, but also makes it difficult to find the papers and other items you need to complete projects and tasks. A cluttered work area can also contain many distractions, causing you to waste valuable work time on non-important functions. To handle a heavy workload, spend 10 to 15 minutes a day de-cluttering your space and avoid common workplace distractions such as personal emails, phone calls and office chatter and gossip.
Work Late
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Oftentimes, all you need to get ahead of your heavy workload is an extended work period without any distractions. Plan to take work home just one day per week, and use that day to complete as much work as possible. While a 12 to 14 hour workday may seem long, completing several projects during one long day is often preferred to working a few extra hours in each day. This way, you will have one designated long day that will ease the stress and tension of your other working days.
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Ask for Help
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At times, your workload may be too large for you to handle alone. During these times, the most productive and efficient action to take is to ask a co-worker for help. If you have co-workers in your office that have the ability to help you complete your projects, utilize them. If this is not the case, ask your supervisor or manager to assign someone to your project or task to help you lighten the workload.
Prioritize
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Prioritizing your projects and tasks is an important technique for handling a heavy workload. Learning to place your projects and tasks into an order of importance is not only useful for reducing stress due to disorganization, but also allows you to know the importance and urgency of each task. This way, you will always be working on the most important projects first.
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References
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