Pressing Deadlines Overwhelm Pennsylvania Woman – Stress Question, Answered!

March 2007 Runner Up, Natalie K. of Pennsylvania. Thank You, Natalie! Now let's try to bust her stress...

The Stress Question:

"How can you deal with stress in workplace when you have three or four projects due at the same time?"

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The Stress Solution:

Dear Natalie,

There's only one thing worse than pressing deadlines... multiple pressing deadlines!

With everything on your mind, you can never really focus on any one thing, instead you find yourself worrying about everything at once.

Now, of course, that only overwhelms you and causes more stress.

Then any number of things may happen:

• You get little done because you can only focus on what you have yet to do.
• You begin to pull out your hair in frustration, then freak out that you pulled out your hair.
• You procrastinate because you just don't want to deal with the pressure – this, of course, causes even more pressure the night before the due date.
• You pull a few all-nighters and crawl into work with blood-shot eyes and no memory of what happened or how you pulled it off.
• The next time a deadline comes your way you repeat the same cycle, lose more hair, and swear this will never happen ever again – but naturally, it does.

It does not have to be this way!

I want you to concentrate on the things that you can do, not what you wish you could. Just by focusing on your ability to accomplish one task, you're building your confidence and momentum to tackle the next one (and the next one...).

By focusing on one thing at a time, you're being realistic about your expectations. We both know that you're no superhero and you simply can't accomplish everything at once – and that's okay! Instead of beating yourself up, be honest about what you can and cannot do.

I also want you to take out four pieces of paper and organize your thoughts about each project separately. Note down what specifically needs to get done, and get all your anxious thoughts and worries out of your head. Once your pen hits the paper, don't allow yourself to dwell on your long list of things to do, let your paper take the weight off your shoulders.

Scratch & Smiles

Whenever you accomplish a task, take satisfaction in scratching it out then draw yourself a little smiley face. Whenever you look back at your list, you'll be amused to see a bunch of scratched out tasks and smiley faces staring back at you. (Yes, this may seem childish, but at least you're keeping your sanity and smiling about something.)

For next time, deadline planning is a must. If you know you have a barrage of projects due in a month, then prepare your action plan today. I know you know this already, and it's just a matter of actually doing it. As much as it may seem like a time waster to write down the things you need to do (instead of just doing them), you'll actually save yourself a lot of time and energy. Your stress gets out of your head and onto paper. By organizing yourself and your necessary actions, you may see trends and inter-related tasks and save time and energy by grouping task together.

I go into far more detail about this in the "Manage Your Time" and "Prioritize" chapters of the Stress Busters Toolkit as well as the "Complex Tasks," "Deadlines," and "Procrastination" sections of the Stress Solutions Guide.

Just focus on accomplishing one thing so you can build momentum and move forward. Good luck!

About the Stress Expert

Ronnie Nijmeh is the president of ACQYR and the author of Stress Busters, a stress toolkit packed with solutions, worksheets and strategies adapted to your life. To learn more about Stress Busters, visit: http://www.acqyr.com/ACQYR_Stress_Busters