Sweeping and drinking coffee

There they were, doing both things at once. Sweeping. Drinking coffee. 

Neither was being done particularly well. 

They’d spilled some coffee down their shirt. They’d missed some of the dirt and leaves and kept resweeping the same area, again and again. (Or maybe they didn’t realize they’d already swept that area.)

Juggling tasks can lead us towards overwhelm. We keep taking on more and more things - sometimes juggling two or three or more things at once. 

- The cyclist who was checking their phone and eating a banana. And riding. 

- The leader who was on two zoom calls at once on two separate devices - one earplug for each meeting. 

- The workshop attendee who was also checking their email and tallying up some data all at once. 


In our rush, push and drive to get things done, we think the juggle is worth it, that we can do it, that we’re smarter than the brain research, that it doesn’t mess with OUR brain. 

Yet it does. 

The more we continue to try and do multiple things at once, the more overloaded we feel, the less we get done. 

Of all the habits to unlearn and re-engineer, the juggle is one that’s so worth fighting off when it calls. 

Where overwhelm and overload come from

The words were right there in the job ad - “must be able to multitask”. 

Does the employer really want someone to join the team who: 
- Divides their attention across multiple tasks. 
- Stops and starts those tasks. 
- Juggles too many things at once. 
- Doesn’t finish them. 
- Wastes time. 
- Lowers their IQ. 
- Feels overwhelmed. 
- Is exhausted at the end of the day. 

And will show up and do it all again tomorrow?

Sadly this is what multitasking looks like and what it’s doing to us. 

Our inability to focus for longer than a few minutes is getting worse. An employer looking for multitasking as a capability is crazy.

C. R. A. Z. Y. 

The rise in our overwhelm and overload is made worse by dated work practices and expectations like ‘must be able to multitask’. 

Thinking it is efficient is an old way of thinking, working... and leading. 

A daily battle of multiple multitasking sessions leaves us overwhelmed, overloaded and exhausted. 

How to work instead? 

- One thing at a time. 
- Stop starting. Start finishing. 
- Focus for shorter periods of time.
- Take a break. 
- Focus again. 

It’s more productive and efficient. And it’s easier, simpler, kinder and smarter for us all. 

Overwhelmed with information

Have you felt it lately? 

Our sponge gets full - gradually or rapidly - and then we’re ‘done’. We can’t keep taking information in unless we do something to get the existing information out!

Where does your overload come from? 
- A day of back to back meetings
- A new project
- The to do list
- Working from home
- Dealing with uncertainty and stress ... 

All of these things can bring on a state of overload and overwhelm.

The thing is, we don’t have to ‘suck it up’ or ‘push on through’ or ‘keep it together’. These are old ways which battled or fought with the overload. 

There are newer, smarter ways to understand, rework and redirect overwhelm.