I was feeling overwhelmed today. Not really overwhelmed but just out of control. I know I can get all the work on my plate done. But just this month I suddenly seem to have more than one plate and they keep rotating in and out from under me like I'm sitting at a rotating table as priorities change, new projects are added, I decide to take a short vacation, and then I walk out in the yard to relax and
see projects out there that need attention as well, including the two extra patio chairs I bought the other day that have "minor assembly required" stamped on the box.
When I get busy, it's really easy to turn down boring work. Even if pays better, I'll frankly take on the projects that are fun and let me learn new stuff rather than stuff I've done before and would rather not do again. It's also easy to turn down work when the client is trying to lowball you or raising red flags about how it would be to work together. But when all the work coming my way is fun, with an edge to it of something I want to learn, and I've worked with everyone before and have nothing but positive feelings about doing more work together...what do I do then?
I sit down and make lists.
First, on my white board in my office I listed each major client and then the hot project(s) under them. Some only have one right now, although I know more are coming. But I don't need to deal with them yet so I don't list them. I'm just looking at the next couple of weeks. When I narrow my focus that way, it suddenly becomes manageable. Two clients only have one immediate project under their name. The third has half a dozen, but some only require minor input from me and others I'm waiting on materials so I can't really get started.
When I lay stuff out like that in front of me, rather than feeling like there's something hidden that's going to bite me out of the blue, I feel back in control again. I came back from my morning meetings, picked one project to work on where I had everything I needed to get started and jumped in.
What do you do when you're feeling like things are beginning to get out of control?