Too Much to Do and Not Enough Time to Do It? How to Deal With Stress at Work

One of the most frequent questions I get about professional life is how to handle being overloaded at work. When you have too many tasks to finish, it can be hard to ask for direction. You might be afraid that you’ll “out” yourself to your boss.

“She’s been doing this a lot longer than I have,” you might think. “She should know how long it takes. I must not be up to par if I can’t finish the assignments.”

So, instead of exposing yourself, you work long hours. You stress. That’s not the path to take. Instead, be more transparent with your manager and colleagues. You’ll buy yourself some breathing room and do more for your long-term career growth.

We’ll cover, step by step, how to deal with stress at work when you feel like you have way too much to do.

Be Up-Front and Honest

Only you know how long something will take you to complete. (Hint: when you’re new to a role, double your best estimate.) You do not do yourself or your team any favors by understating the time you think the task will take you. The person assigning the work to you probably has only a general idea of how long the item will take to finish. You, on the other hand, have a good idea of your skills and abilities. You can give a much more precise estimate than anyone else can.

The best thing to do is to err on the high side when you estimate how many hours something will take. Remember that your manager or team is making a commitment based on the date you agree to. If you aren’t able to complete the assignment by that date, it makes everyone look bad. That’s not what you’re going for! Being honest, on the other hand, enables your management to plan with good information.

If you need help or support, don’t be afraid to ask. For example, if an assignment uses technology you’re new to, it’s completely fair to say that you can complete the task on your own in 2 weeks because you’ll have to ramp up on the new technology. However, you could cut your time to complete in half if you were paired with someone who is familiar with the new technology,

Whatever the situation is, the best policy is to always be transparent about your skills and abilities.

Ask for Clarity

Make sure that you understand the timeline of each assignment. I have asked people to do things that are urgent but have forgotten to communicate the urgency of the task. It was so clear in my own mind that I forgot to spell it out. If you’re given something, always ask when they’d like to have it completed. Completing a 10 hour task in a day looks much different than completing that same task in a week.

You’ll also want to understand any dependencies. If you’ll be doing data analysis, figure out if the data is ready. If you’re writing a document for a customer, ask if all of the contributors have submitted their information. Dependencies can really compress your timeline, so it’s important to know about those up front.

Confirm Priority

At this point, you have an accurate picture of your workload (hooray)! You’ve figured out what assignments you have, how long they’ll take to complete and when they’re due. Now you can figure out if you’re truly overloaded. If you do end up with more tasks than you can reasonably complete, it’s time to seek guidance.

Sit down with your manager, project manager or colleagues and politely let them know that you’ve been given competing tasks and need help prioritizing. Here’s an example of how that conversation might go on a Monday morning.

You: I’ve got a few overlapping tasks this week and I need some feedback on how to prioritize them. I’ll need to spend 30 hours finishing the report that’s due on Thursday. I’ve also been asked to complete the latest financial analysis by Friday, and it will take 35 hours. How should I prioritize those two items?

Manager: Well, can you finish the first section of the report and then move on to the financial analysis? We’ll have to push the delivery date of the report to next week, but can you finish the analysis by Friday?

OR, your manager might say: Why don’t you knock out the report this week? The financial analysis isn’t really needed until next week.

OR, manager: Oh, I didn’t realize you had those two tasks competing this week. I’ll ask Jane to do the financial analysis while you finish the report.

The point is, again, that you’ve helped your manager and team by giving them complete information. Rather than trying to go to great lengths to complete both assignments, simply raise the flag and let people know that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it. Get help identifying priorities, shifting due dates and getting assistance from other team members. When you raise an issue like this professionally (and well in advance of the due date), you can work with your team to solve the problem.

When You’re Going to Miss a Deadline

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, we underestimate how much time a project will take us to finish. We think we’ll get it done, though. Until the day before when we realize, with a sinking feeling, that there’s just no way it’s going to happen.

As soon as you know, let your manager and relevant team members know. Nothing looks worse than a missed deadline without any communication from you, so just face up to it. It’s not fun, but it happens. And it’s probably not the end of the world.

Your manager will want to be able to say, “Yes, I’m already aware of it and here’s our path to completion by x date.” Make him look good, or at least less bad.

The Key: Be Transparent

Remember, the key is to be transparent. Colleagues don’t mind that you haven’t learned every piece of technology yet. They don’t care if you take 20% longer to complete something. But they will care if you consistently fail to deliver on your commitments. So, even though it’s hard, the best way to handle being overloaded at work is to be open and honest with your manager and team. That way, you can work together to reach your joint goals.