We all want to keep up. With today’s current unemployment rate, you especially want to hold onto your job. However, when so many companies are downsizing, those employees who remain are left to pick up the slack of the ones that are gone. This adds additional stress because the workload consistently gets heavier. All of this can take a very real toll on your self-esteem. You may not have recognized it. You may not have spoken about it. But it can be very real nonetheless. See if you identify with any of the symptoms below:
- Feeling overwhelmed. Your workload is getting heavier and heavier, but you feel real pressure not to complain. You just grin and bear it and try to get it all done. It’s hard to stay on top of everything, but you think you should and then get frustrated when it’s just too hard to keep up.
- You really don’t know how you will ever get it all done. You try as hard as you can. You may create beautifully-planned to-do lists, only to find they just get longer each and every day. By the end of each week, and especially by the end of the month, you may look at those lists in dismay and realize it really isn’t humanly possible to get everything done. But you keep trying anyway, feeling like you should be finished, and then feel really bad about yourself because you aren’t done.
- Frequent mistakes. It’s common to make more mistakes when you are rushed and feeling overwhelmed. Then you feel bad because you made those mistakes. You ask yourself “How could I be so stupid?” Every time it happens again you’re afraid others will notice and it is a poor reflection of your ability to do your job.
- Irritable. When you are already trying as hard as you can and even MORE gets dropped in your lap, you feel ready to bite someone’s head off. When people are late to meetings or wasting your time, you feel mounting pressure because you’ve got deadlines to meet. You’re exhausted and stressed out. It’s easy to be irritable with someone when you feel that way. However, while it may have felt justified in the moment, you’ll very likely beat yourself up afterwards because you snapped.
- Harder to relax and get a good night’s sleep. You’re tired. You’re exhausted. As you drag yourself in the door at the end of the day, you’re just hoping you can get some sleep. But the rising stress levels in your body make it harder to relax. Instead of getting a good night’s sleep, you end up tossing and turning and then feel even more tired the next day.
- Not feeling in control. At the root of it all is the sense that you can’t change anything. You don’t see alternatives or know how to make it better. This feeling of lack of control fuels an even higher stress level. You don’t like this feeling.
- Not happy or satisfied. The overall impact of these symptoms causes you to not feel happy at work. You’re not happy with how this is impacting your health. You’re not pleased with how it’s impacting your relationships. You’re tired, burned out and exhausted. You don’t like how you’re feeling about yourself. This isn’t how you want your life to be!
These are just some of the ways poor time management causes us to not feel as good about ourselves and our lives as we want. What do you think? What other ways could poor time management impact you?
