Hello there overachiever. If you clicked on this link, I would bet that you are an avid overachiever. I can do it all. I can do everything. I want my boss to see what a hard worker I am. I want to climb the ladder. Yes, yes, yes, work hard, work longer, work more efficiently.
Too much of this and you end up taking on too much. There IS a limit on how much you can do.
What does this mean?
This means saying, No in a smart way.
Be honest with yourself
Our last resort when we are overworked and over-exhausted is saying NO. Yet there comes a point when we need to be honest with ourselves and own up to how we are feeling. If you are genuinely overwhelmed by everything and feel like you simply don’t have capacity your performance will start slipping. Details will slip through the cracks, you won’t be prepared for the meeting, crucial tasks will be overlooked and you’ll end up doing the job half as well as you would have, if you had the time. At this point, if you don’t speak up you mess something up and you will look far more incompetent than if you had just said No in the first place.
Assess the Task
Sometimes when you are new at a job, anything will overwhelm you and you need to work through this. Other times you need to know when you are out of your depths and the project requires more experience. If the potential answers to a task you have are within your reach, don’t say No until you have done the research and pushed down the door. If you have done this, you have assessed what is needed to get the job done well and you don’t have the skills or time resources then you need to start thinking of ways to say No.
Suggest an alternative
Maybe there is someone in your building who can help you get the job done? Maybe someone is bored or really good at the thing you are doing and you can draw on their strength. Always phrase anything like this correctly, you don’t want to look like you are palming all your work off on your colleagues. Always phrase this as a suggestion rather than an absolute.
Rather than saying an outright No, perhaps the best option is to ask for the additional time you need and see if the deadline can be stretched.
Prioritize
Ask what is key priority? This is a sneaky way of getting your boss to realise how much you have going on and he may offer up some new deadlines in the process. Sometimes you may need to point out that you can’t have everything on your plate due for the same day.
Break it down
Everything becomes more manageable when you break it down. Doing this helps you understand the task better and what is required to make it a success. It also helps you to say, “hey I can’t get everything done but I can do this.” When you break something down you tend to see the details that are required and are hidden in the whole. Details are important and show your boss that you have completed something thoroughly and thought it through.
Learning to manage your schedule, tasks and deadlines is an important life skill. If you want to do well at your career you are going to need to learn this and learn when to say No. Just remember a few No’s are not the end of your career and you are able to disappoint people when it is something important. Remember doing something well is better than doing it quickly. Be an overachiever, but do it with wisdom.