Everyone is exhausted. I am trying to avoid the word “busy”, because it has lost all meaning. Try “run ragged” instead!
So many of my clients find that their workload has increased to such an extent that the focus is now on simply surviving rather than doing a good job. And many people are quietly quitting. To-do lists are always increasing, and there is never enough time to get through it all.
This causes real anguish, because fundamentally, they value professionalism in themselves and others, get pleasure and satisfaction from a job well done, but the systems they operate in don’t allow the resources (time, attention, energy) to enable quality thinking and action.
These clients are often in senior roles, carrying responsibility for business areas and also large numbers of staff. With pressure for delivery of results always high, they are having to make decisions without having the necessary time to review all the data they would like. They see people struggling, but don’t always find the time to fit in that supportive conversation.
This being the reality of many workplaces, we need to find ways of staying sane and healthy. The challenge is to find a way of operating in these environments that set up their staff to struggle, because shareholders and profit are often the main drivers.
There are many facets to this:
- setting realistic and achievable goals for yourself and your team
- learning to prioritize
- being courageous by standing up and saying no
- identifying what is not essential and eliminating it
- being truthful with yourself around your drivers to keep yourself and your team “busy”
- becoming experts at filtering out the noise
- resisting the tech addiction for mindless scrolling and “easy” go-to habits (e.g. e-mail inbox)
- simplifying, simplifying, simplifying
Does it sound easy? Maybe.
Is it easy? Less so.
But we have to reclaim our agency as the cost to our health, relationships and overall wellbeing is dangerously high. How much is your job or income worth to you? And who are you really serving through your sweat and nerves?
Want to carve out some thinking time or an accountability partner to do this stuff? 👉 get in touch and let’s chat.