Excessive work demands may be stressful and potentially
lead to emotional stress when they exceed the person’s
capabilities. Excessive work without appropriate breaks
may also be stressful. Work overload may also weaken a person’s
confidence in his/her own abilities and adequacy to do the
job.
Many people just take on much more than they can manage.
There are many reasons for this:
•
Need to show
how good we are
•
We want to do a good job
and so take on jobs to show what we can achieve
•
We need to demonstrate just
how good we are, so we take on more work than we should
Poor
time estimation
If we anticipate that our tasks are going to be completed in
less time than in practice we will tend to take on more tasks.
To set realistic time frames one should add 20% to the initially
considered time to all of the tasks.
Can’t
say no
It is often hard to say ‘no’, especially to senior
management. However, if you have your weekly schedule of prioritised
tasks visible it becomes easier to refer to the projects you
are already working on. The senior management will then have
to make a decision in terms of priorities.
Desire
to please
Easier said than done, but we must try to resist the urge to
do everything we are asked to do.
Disorganised
Poor personal organisation will contribute to work overload.
If you lose track of follow-up tasks you will be more likely
to add another task to the list.
Perfectionist
Trying for perfection, where one can always find something extra
to add, tends to prolong the completion of tasks. This can be
a trait of the workaholic.
Over-confidence
Work confidence is an admirable trait; however over-confidence
in thinking that you can do-it- all will affect the volume of
workload and your ability to handle these tasks.
Poor
delegation
If someone else can do a task, delegate it.
