Feeling Burned Out and Overwhelmed - Five Coping Tactics
This is a personal account of how I regain my productivity when I've dug myself into a productivity hole at work. Hopefully some of what I do works for you. Some of the remedies are taken straight out of the pages of Lean and Agile. Occasionally, I look at my inbox, my ticket queue, my project backlog, and I say to myself: I have so much, so much to do, I don't even know where to start. This is the point where I sometimes just give up and react to whatever gets in my face. It usually doesn't end well for me or the people I'm trying to help. A different approach is needed. Tactic One: Give yourself permission to relax and get some space to think. Get a cup of coffee and go somewhere quiet, lock yourself in an enclave, take a walk. Get away and collect your thoughts. Staring at the endless stream of IM's, Emails, Stories, and Tickets isn't going to help. In fact, if you're feeling overwhelmed right now, go ahead, take a walk, sit outside and admi