WEBVTT - Second Cup: Cope with being overwhelmed

0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:09.800
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:15.000
<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.000
<v Speaker 1>tip is about how to cope with being overwhelmed. By

0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:23.160
<v Speaker 1>recognizing the exact nature of your overwhelming situation, you can

0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.560
<v Speaker 1>take steps to make life feel more in control. Today's

0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:30.200
<v Speaker 1>tip comes from Bill Burnett and Dave Evans's new book

0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.440
<v Speaker 1>Designing Your Work Life, the follow up to Design Your Life.

0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.760
<v Speaker 1>This book teaches how to use design principles to improve

0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:41.280
<v Speaker 1>your time at the office. We've probably all been in

0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.879
<v Speaker 1>bad jobs, but in many cases Burnett and Evans right,

0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.480
<v Speaker 1>people find themselves in jobs that they generally like. It's

0:00:48.520 --> 0:00:53.280
<v Speaker 1>just that circumstances are stressful. These stressful circumstances come in

0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:57.720
<v Speaker 1>different flavors, which Burnett and Evans call the hydra overwhelmed,

0:00:58.400 --> 0:01:04.240
<v Speaker 1>the happy overwhelmed, and the hyper overwhelm. They require different

0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:08.960
<v Speaker 1>steps to mitigate. The hydra overwhelm takes its name from

0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.440
<v Speaker 1>the multi headed Greek monster that grew new heads every

0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.399
<v Speaker 1>time one was chopped off. Perhaps this feels a bit

0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.360
<v Speaker 1>like your life if you work in a place that

0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.679
<v Speaker 1>has been made lean to the point where everybody is

0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.039
<v Speaker 1>doing the equivalent of two to three jobs. Maybe you're

0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.920
<v Speaker 1>reporting to too many managers or are running too many

0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.759
<v Speaker 1>projects simultaneously. Maybe you're having to pull information from too

0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.760
<v Speaker 1>many sources, or you have to use legacy systems that

0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:38.160
<v Speaker 1>are cumbersome and badly designed. The happy overwhelm is when

0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:39.880
<v Speaker 1>you just have too much of a good thing going on.

0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.360
<v Speaker 1>You've volunteered for all the cool, shiny stuff. You love

0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:47.440
<v Speaker 1>all of it, but you are one person with twenty

0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:50.600
<v Speaker 1>four hours in a day, and it is physically impossible

0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.600
<v Speaker 1>to work for all of them. And finally, the hyper

0:01:54.680 --> 0:01:59.280
<v Speaker 1>overwhelm happens in startup situations where there are no organizational

0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:03.120
<v Speaker 1>norms and very little support. It's not that you're reporting

0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.840
<v Speaker 1>to two different managers. It's that you really aren't sure

0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.000
<v Speaker 1>who your manager is because you're growing so fast that

0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:13.839
<v Speaker 1>there's no organization chart. Anyway, when you find yourself overwhelmed,

0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:18.280
<v Speaker 1>ask yourself if it's a hydra, happy or hyper kind

0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:21.080
<v Speaker 1>of overwhelm, and then you can figure out what to do.

0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.960
<v Speaker 1>If it's hydra, you can either drop tasks or ask

0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:29.880
<v Speaker 1>permission to drop ones that are hurting your productivity. In

0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:34.959
<v Speaker 1>the permission conversations be specific. Brunette and Evans right say

0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:37.079
<v Speaker 1>that you will be more productive if you can use

0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.160
<v Speaker 1>the twenty eighteen version of your software versus the nineteen

0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.799
<v Speaker 1>ninety eight version that you're stuck with, or if you

0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.040
<v Speaker 1>can write a monthly report instead of a weekly one,

0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.000
<v Speaker 1>or if you can split your clients into a's and bs,

0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:51.320
<v Speaker 1>with the a's getting responses in twenty four hours and

0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.160
<v Speaker 1>the b's getting responses in ninety six hours. Most managers

0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.959
<v Speaker 1>are happy to have people propose solutions to their problems,

0:02:58.520 --> 0:03:02.120
<v Speaker 1>so you don't need to fear this conversation. As for

0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.359
<v Speaker 1>happy overwhelm, well, the problem here is that you may

0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:10.480
<v Speaker 1>have a tougher boss yourself. You've chosen to do all

0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:13.519
<v Speaker 1>these amazing things, and you are now paying the price.

0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:18.600
<v Speaker 1>The solution here is often to start delegating. Figure out

0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.360
<v Speaker 1>which of these tasks you are uniquely qualified to do

0:03:22.200 --> 0:03:25.080
<v Speaker 1>and which can be given to someone else. Maybe with

0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.520
<v Speaker 1>you editing or approving at work, you can ask for

0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:32.720
<v Speaker 1>more resources, people, budgets and so forth. At home, maybe

0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:35.320
<v Speaker 1>you can hire a cleaning service, send out the laundry,

0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:39.600
<v Speaker 1>or hire a personal assistant. The point is to multiply

0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:42.920
<v Speaker 1>your existing hours, because you are not going to magically

0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:48.160
<v Speaker 1>get more, Finally, for the hyper overwhelmed, Burnett and Evans

0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.520
<v Speaker 1>recommend thinking of the situation as a marathon rather than

0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:55.400
<v Speaker 1>a sprint. Run the mile you're in, take care of yourself,

0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:59.240
<v Speaker 1>making sure that your non negotiables like sleep and exercise happen,

0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:04.360
<v Speaker 1>and finally, change your story rather than I'm frantic because

0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.960
<v Speaker 1>I have no idea what I'm doing, you could repeat

0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:10.920
<v Speaker 1>it's so exciting to be figuring this all out. Positive

0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.800
<v Speaker 1>thoughts go a long way in all of these situations.

0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:16.520
<v Speaker 1>Check in a few weeks later to see if the

0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:20.599
<v Speaker 1>situation seems more under control. Are the steps you're taking working?

0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:24.919
<v Speaker 1>If so, great, If not, figure out what else you

0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.040
<v Speaker 1>need to change. Things can be overwhelming for a while,

0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.000
<v Speaker 1>but you don't want them to be overwhelming permanently. In

0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:36.119
<v Speaker 1>the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:45.000
<v Speaker 1>to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd

0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.520
<v Speaker 1>love to hear from you. You can send me your tips,

0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:52.160
<v Speaker 1>your questions, or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook,

0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:57.520
<v Speaker 1>and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's B the number

0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.960
<v Speaker 1>four then breakfast po. You can also shoot me an

0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:06.279
<v Speaker 1>email at Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that

0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:09.640
<v Speaker 1>before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:11.440
<v Speaker 1>so much, should I look forward to staying in touch.

0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:21.320
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts

0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:26.240
<v Speaker 1>from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:30.120
<v Speaker 1>you listen to your favorite shows.