10 Ways to Be More Efficient When You Are Drowning at Work

Last Updated on July 31, 2023 by Daniel Boyce

You’re drowning in work. There are no fewer than three things on your plate, and each one requires your full attention. Your email inbox is overflowing; there are unread messages stacked up in every corner of your desk. And your calendar is jam-packed with meetings and deadlines.

95% of employees feel pressured to push themselves until they are overworked. This has many adverse effects, including burnout, that can lead to decreased productivity. 

But what if someone else could take some of those tasks off your hands? What if you could ask a colleague to pick up some of the slack?

The problem is that asking for help feels like admitting defeat. But it doesn’t have to. It might even make you look better. Especially if you are drowning at work.

10 Ways to Be More Efficient When You Are Drowning at Work

If you’ve ever found yourself drowning at work, it could mean one thing: You’re doing too much. This happens because we tend to take on more tasks than we can handle, especially when our bosses are asking us to do more.

Learning how to delegate, ask for help, and set boundaries will help provide relief throughout your career path. You don’t have to suffer through it alone. There are things you can do to prevent it, and there are ways to recover once you’re already experiencing burnout symptoms.

But there are ways to make sure that you don’t end up overwhelmed by your workload. Let’s wrap up some of the best practices to help yourself.

1. Prioritize and Plan Your Day

Learn how to effectively manage your time by creating a to-do list and prioritizing tasks based on urgency and importance. By planning ahead, you can focus on the most important tasks first and avoid wasting time and effort on less critical ones.

2. Minimize Distractions

Discover strategies to minimize interruptions and distractions that can disrupt your workflow. From turning off notifications on your phone to creating a dedicated workspace, implementing these techniques will help you stay focused and complete tasks more efficiently.

3. Delegate Tasks

Find out how to leverage your team’s skills and expertise by delegating tasks that can be handled by others. Delegation not only lightens your workload but also allows others to grow and develop their own skills, leading to increased productivity for the whole team.

4. Embrace Technology and Automation

Explore the benefits of utilizing technology and automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks. From using project management apps to automating email responses, incorporating these tools into your workflow can save valuable time and energy.

5. Break Tasks into Manageable Chunks

Learn how breaking down larger tasks into smaller, more manageable steps can increase productivity. By doing this, you can avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensure steady progress towards your goals.

6. Take Regular Breaks

Understand the importance of taking regular breaks to rejuvenate your mind and avoid burnout. Studies have shown that short breaks can improve focus, creativity, and overall work performance.

7. Practice Effective Communication

Improve your communication skills to minimize misunderstandings and eliminate unnecessary back-and-forth. Clear and concise communication ensures that tasks are understood and executed efficiently, saving time and effort.

8. Streamline Your Workspace

Organize your physical and digital workspace to reduce clutter and promote efficiency. A tidy workspace not only helps you find what you need quickly but also enhances focus and reduces distractions.

9. Invest in Learning and Development

Continuously improve your skills and knowledge through ongoing learning and development. By staying up-to-date with industry trends and best practices, you can work more efficiently and deliver higher-quality results.

10. Maintain a Healthy Work-Life Balance

Find ways to strike a balance between work and personal life to avoid burnout and enhance overall well-being. Taking care of yourself outside of work improves productivity and allows you to perform at your best when on the job.

How to Ask For Help When You are Drowning at Work

When you are drowning at work, it’s time to ask for help. If you get too overloaded with work, your performance can suffer. Asking for helping, delegating, and getting a project done efficiently can give you some relief. 

Your colleagues seem to know what you want without asking; why don’t they just tell you? They’ve done it before—they’ll do it again. But you haven’t asked. So here’s how to ask someone for help.

1. Start small

Even though you might want to unload your entire workload onto your team to give yourself some relief, start small. Start delegating small tasks and simple parts of the projects to coworkers you trust.

2. Make a plan

Before you go asking for help, take a moment to figure out what you want to achieve. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you need to finish something quickly? Are there deadlines looming? Once you know what you want to do, you can set up a plan of action.

3. Find allies

When you’re looking for help, don’t forget about those around you. Your colleagues, friends, family members, and even strangers — everyone has strengths that could benefit your situation.

Who can you trust? Who can handle important parts of your project? Look for people who are willing to pitch in and offer support.

4. Find out what you actually need

The problem is that we tend to focus on our immediate needs without thinking about what else we might actually need. This leads us to make decisions based on emotion rather than logic.

So how can we change this? How can we make sure that we’re getting exactly what we need? Here are some tips to help you figure out what you actually need.

First things first. Before you try anything else, you’ll need to identify your goals. If you don’t know what you want, you won’t know whether you’re succeeding.

Once you’ve identified what you want to accomplish, you’ll need to determine exactly which actions will lead to success. You’ll need to take action by breaking down your goal into specific steps.

5. Make it clear

When you need help, ask for it. This isn’t always easy. Sometimes we’re afraid to ask because we think we’ll come across as needy. Or maybe we worry that we won’t be able to provide enough information to show that we truly need help.

But the fact is that no one wants to help someone who doesn’t ask. So take a deep breath and ask for help. Tell your friend or family member that you’d appreciate his/her input on an additional project, or that you need to find a good accountant. Just say what you need, and let him/her decide whether to help.

You might think that just saying “I’m having trouble with my taxes” will suffice, but it probably won’t. People often misunderstand requests, especially those coming from strangers. They assume that you mean something else entirely.

Conclusion

If you’re struggling at work, it’s probably time to ask for help from someone who knows what they’re doing. If you’re drowning at work, your productivity can suffer. You can get some relief by asking others to help, delegating tasks, and making sure they’re efficient at doing them.