The life of a manager is stressful. You probably don’t need anyone to tell you that. However, in the professional world, it appears that too many people take pride in being busy 24/7.
They consider their exhaustion a badger of honour, reminding you that even if you worked 60 hours last week, they worked 61 and a half.
This creates a toxic environment, and it forces you to work even harder. Despite this, people were not designed to work all day, every day.
To be at your most productive, you must take a break. If you are feeling overwhelmed by being in charge and are struggling to keep up, here are three ways you can slow yourself down while still achieving everything you need to
Take Time to Prepare
As a manager, you should already be adept at preparation. However, if you still feel you cannot handle all of your responsibilities, it’s a sign that you need to reevaluate how you prepare for each day and improve your organizational skills.
If you take an hour (at most) to prepare everything you need for the next day the night before, you can save plenty of time rushing around first thing in the morning.
This goes for what to wear, your route, and how to tackle any projects you must finish tomorrow. By knowing what you will do before even sitting down, you’ll be able to get through your work much faster.
Learn to Delegate
It’s not easy to delegate as a manager. You have a vision. You trust yourself, and no one else to achieve this vision. However, failing to delegate means you will need to juggle too much at once, and multitasking is never a suitable way to do your best work.
You can delegate everything from arranging meetings to web design, and instead, choose to outsource these duties or put your trust in your staff. Doing so will free up a lot of time for you to focus on other elements of the job while also giving your team more responsibilities and opportunities to impress.
Give Yourself Time
Everyone needs time to themselves. This will give you the chance to recharge and switch your brain from work mode to relaxation.
If you never stop thinking about work, you can experience stress and anxiety, which is why logging off your email and forgetting about work for the evening is so essential and you can also take your weekends to do what you want to do.
If you still have work to do, then you can do it your way. Rather than sit at your desk, put an easy movie or TV show on in the background and move through everything casually. It won’t feel like work, but you can still get it finished ready for next week.
Breathe
You cannot expect to be at your best every day if you are buried under a pile of work, duties, and responsibilities.
While it can be hard to switch yourself off as a manager, as there is always more to do, giving yourself the benefit of preparation, delegating, and allowing time to recharge will always be better for you in the long run.
