4 Lessons for Transforming Overwhelm at Work

Earlier this year, I was honoured to train a team at a world-famous nonprofit. I felt that Groundwork would be a perfect fit for them and it was a significant opportunity with some big challenges to address.

As I learned more about their team's challenges, it was clear that they faced common pain points experienced by many teams, no matter the nature of the work or size of team.

Mindset Challenges:

• Incapacity to Implement Ideas: They had wonderful ideas but were overwhelmed and unrealistic about what was achievable.

• Normalized Overwhelm: There was a general sentiment that living in overwhelm was normal and even a sign of importance. A tone of "the busier I am, the more important I am" could be felt among team members.

Practical Challenges:

• Lack of Capturing: The team couldn't manage the influx of tasks and had no way to streamline incoming items. Prioritization was difficult. Everything felt urgent and the team was in constant firefighting mode.

• Calendar Crisis: There were too many meetings, including recurring ones. Spontaneous "do you have a minute?" requests turned into unplanned meetings. Calendars were double-booked, and team members often decided on the day or hour of the meeting whether they would attend. This made planning and coordination difficult.

• Unstructured Meetings: Meetings lacked clear outcomes. Staff relied on managers to drive things, resulting in low accountability. They weren't trained to extract action items from meetings and operated on good intentions instead.

• Incomplete Work: Team members struggled to focus, often starting tasks but then getting distracted by emails and various browser tabs. This made it hard to see tasks or projects through to completion, leading to a low sense of accomplishment.

Other issues included notifications sounding during meetings and distracted participants, and an atmosphere filled with the tension of not being able to get enough done.

While I couldn't resolve all these problems in a one-day training session, learning Groundwork resurfaced hope for the team. My goal was to get them excited about a clear mind and a spacious calendar. I wanted them to be able to get things done without living in overwhelm and unrealistic thinking. I aimed to help them break the norm of living in overwhelm and dispel the illusion that being busy is a badge of honor or a measure of self-worth.

When I checked in a few months later, I received confirmation that learning the system was a true game-changer for many of them.

The problems faced by this incredibly visionary team are not unique or rare. In my experience of helping individuals and teams create more effective and life-giving ways of working and living, it is unfortunately common that most of us lack the right mindset and tools to work from peace and clarity.

Under our current capitalist structures, even organizations rooted in vision and progress find themselves caught in the grip of survival mode—the vicious cycles that perpetuate our overwhelm, anxiety, and worry.

It’s no wonder we are burning out.

4 Lessons for Transforming Overwhelm at Work:

1. Capture Everything: Clear your brain space. Trying to hold everything in your head will overwhelm you. Use your system to prioritize tasks, projects, and ideas. The Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Reviews are sacred—do not skip them!

2. Your Calendar is Your Canvas: Keep it clean, thoughtful, and organized. Be clear about what you will and won't do. Accept and decline meetings realistically during your Daily and Weekly Reviews. Be gracious and set yourself up for success.

3. Use Your Agenda System: Come to meetings prepared with what you'd like to discuss. Use your time wisely with others. Capture action items from meetings and separate notes into reference.

4. Complete Your Planned Work: Minimize distractions when you sit down to work—turn off notifications, close non-task-related tabs, and put your phone on silent mode if needed. Do what it takes.

And remember, being busy does not make you important, nor is it cool. Being effective, clear, present with others, open, creative, and in love with your work and life is cool.