Nothing kills your Friday vibes like realizing it’s only Tuesday..
Working is a necessary evil, but there is a difference between working and feeling like you’re going to self implode because of how overworked you are. Life is all about balance. If you don’t have balance, you’ll fall over and never be able to get back up. (Pun intended)
In order to achieve balance, you have to evaluate your life and figure out where to scale back. In other words, you need a serious detox.
The Ultimate Cleansing Routine for the Overworked Employee:
Step 1: Pinpoint Your Stress.
What’s causing you to be so overworked? Is it that you have multiple jobs? Is your job calling for too much? Are you bringing work home with you? Is it your commute? Once you zero in on why you feel so overworked, you can begin to fix the problem.
Step 2: Take a Personal Day
This may not seem like the greatest option if you’re stressed out, but believe me, it works. One of the reasons you may be feeling overworked is because you’re simply just not getting enough rest. Take a day to yourself to leave work behind and binge watch some television. Sleep late, go to the gym, do whatever makes you feel better for that day. Sometimes all you really need is a little self TLC.
Step 3: Create a Plan
At the end of your personal day, sit down with an old fashioned pen and paper, and write down everything you do at work. It seems silly, putting all your tasks on paper and getting them out of your head will help you evaluate your daily duties. When everything is stuck in your mind, it can seem more overwhelming than it actually is. Find out if that’s what is happening to you. Sometimes a little organization goes a long way.
If you write everything down and realize it’s not all in your head and you are overworked, begin writing you plan. Start from the morning and see what outside stresses are affecting your life. Is your workload fine, but your commute killing you? Are you taking on too many hours and need to scale back on the overtime (paid or unpaid)? Whatever it may be, create your plan to minimize the extra stresses.
Step 4: Leave Work at Work.
In other words, if you’re suppose to put in 40 hours per week, do not put in more. Often, being overworked comes from never disconnecting. If your job doesn’t call for you to always be on call, example: doctors, lawyers, police; then don’t be on call. You need to have a life that is not answering emails and phone calls after hours and on the weekends. Never leaving work will cause you to resent your job, your boss and everything else that goes along with your career. Chances are, if you don’t answer an email or you miss a call, no one is going to die (again, unless you’re in the medical field- then please answer).
Value your family and personal time. As we get older, there’s less and less of it. Work to live, never live to work.
Step 5: Take a Reflection Day
After you have put your plan to action, take a day to reflect on your changes. Do you still feel overworked? Are there more adjustments that need to be made? Are you happy?
Now, that last question is the biggest one. Are you happy? If you have a plan that seems flawless and have cut back on work, but still feel overworked, maybe it’s not that you’re overworked at all; maybe you’re just unhappy. Sometimes, we feel stressed and overworked at the easiest jobs simply because we’re not happy or do not like the conditions we’re working in. A depressing statistic? 80% of people hate their job in the United States.
Reflect on what you’re doing and if you’re not happy, figure out something else. As long as you pay your bills, who cares what you’re doing? You don’t like being an accountant although you make 6 figures? Adjust your spending, then make an educated move to somewhere you’d be more happy. Again, life needs a balance. A balance of happiness and money will be the only way someone doesn’t go absolutely crazy.
