When I say extremely busy, I mean those times when you find yourself overcommitted to the point that you are dropping the standard things in your life.
Work is taking over your evenings and weekends. You’re spending less time with your family and friends. You’re skipping workouts or your house is a mess.
But you keep going because you’re an achiever and you don’t want to let your boss, colleagues or clients down.
You keep telling yourself that once you survive this busy week, crazy month or demanding project, you will catch up on your personal life and things will become manageable again.
But that day doesn’t seem to come and each week you are in survival mode, month after month.
Then, one day, you’ve worked so much that the thought of having one more busy period like this makes you cry at your desk. And while you know that with a bit of rest you can feel better, your bigger concern is that this will likely happen again.
But what can you do about it? It’s not that you’re stuck in a job you hate. It’s quite the opposite.
You like your work and you feel valued.
And it’s a demanding gig. Being extremely busy comes with the territory. Right?
If this is you, try taking these four steps.
1. Slow down.
If you’ve been pretending to be a work robot for months and are now tired to the point of tears, you need to stop right where you are.
Stop and set some boundaries right away.
Maybe you start by committing to no longer working on the weekend. Then, you reassess what is achievable in the remaining time and manage expectations accordingly.
Will you need to renegotiate deadlines, let someone down and feel discomfort? For sure. It will feel awful and you won’t be happy with yourself. But, guess what, you will also be able to start feeling like a human again. And, besides, you know you can’t go on like this any longer.
2. Take a short break and plan a longer one.
This is an obvious one but worth repeating.
Once you’ve managed to figure out a way to slow down to find a more lasting solution, the next thing to do is block out some time to rest.
Maybe you can only manage one day because you’re still working your way out of this giant hole you’ve created. Fine, take that day and, instead of catching up on chores, just do things that are for you.
And, while you’re at it, find at least one week when you can take a proper vacation. You will need it.
3. Return to your healthy routines.
Another important thing to do is to try to go back to the things that made you feel good on a daily basis.
It doesn’t have to be an elaborate morning routine. It could just be one thing that you try to reinstate for the first few weeks, like a regular workout or reading time.
4. Focus on prevention.
Reflect on how you got this busy and what you can do to prevent this from happening again. And again.
Do not skip this step.
Do not trust yourself to do better next time, without some proper analysis of how you got here and a real commitment to not getting yourself in this situation again.
I speak from personal experience. I love my work and have a strong desire to help others, but this sometimes leads to overworking.
I worked so much this year that I am now reviewing my entire business model and the way I offer my services. It’s the only way I can create real change for myself, otherwise I will fall back into my people-pleasing ways.
I wish you luck in finding your own solution.