Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Can I get an “Amen” if you’ve ever been guilty of this? Biting off more than you can chew. It’s pretty common in today’s world. Someone asks if you can do a task or help with the project and you think to yourself, “Well, that doesn’t seem too bad” and you’re in. Then you find out, that “Whoa!… this is going to take some time.” Pretty soon your plate is overflowing and you’re in a state of mind that doesn’t allow you to do anything except stare at the overwhelmingly full plate and think “I can’t possibly get through all of this!”

It’s quite paralyzing, stressful, irritating, exhausting, and disappointing. The disappointing part comes in because you don’t want to let people down. Are you feeling this? If you’re not, is there someone that you know who gets into these kinds of predicaments? We’re, (I mean they’re) everywhere! Wow, busted…yup, I do this too. We are everywhere! Sometimes that highly positive leap tall buildings with a single bound type of attitude can get you in trouble. Since I’m such an expert at getting into these situations, I also had to become an expert at avoiding them and getting out of these haunted houses of overwhelm!

Here are some ideas for you and I can truly say that these are irreplaceable if done properly and they will save you a ton of time which is, of course, our most valuable asset.

1. Learn to say “No,” but not by just saying “No.” Give the request some thought and figure out for yourself if it’s necessary and/or whether it helps you on your path to Get your Goals! Oftentimes, it’s how you say “No” that can be really helpful. You might try something like this: “After some careful consideration last night, I’ve decided not to commit to helping with this [XYZ] project. After looking at my calendar and the other demands on my time, it just wouldn’t be fair to me and it wouldn’t be fair to the other people working on the project. Thank you very much for considering me and feel free to check with me in the future.” Use this process and you’ll become more proficient at saying “No” without sounding like you don’t care or that you’re unsupportive. You’ve just got enough on your plate right now.

2. We’re busy people and sometimes our plates are just too full and overflowing. What can we do? First of all, avoid activity paralysis. Address the elephant in the room, get organized, write down a plan of attack, and get to work. Avoid distractions and keep your casual conversations to a minimum. Grind it out and get your heaping plate back under control. Break the work down into sections and handle the most important and challenging items first. That will start you on a roll and the other items will be easier and quicker to accomplish.

3. Enlist the help of others on your team. Delegate what you can and collaborate on other projects that need to get done. The adage that you might as well do it yourself because nobody can do it as well as you can is a cop-out and a signal that you need to take more time to train the people around you who can help. Find ways to support and train your team members so that they can do the job nearly as well and, in some cases, better than you can do it. That’s when you’ll really know that your candidate selection and supportive training are making a significant difference.

Hopefully, these steps can help you avoid biting off more that you can chew and helping you escape overwhelm once it has found you.

If you’re interested in finding out how we can support you in your business, let’s coect and see if it would be a good match for us to work together.