Feeling Overwhelmed?
By Dr. Carson Pue, Arrow Leadership Ministries, www.arrowleadership.org

You know the feeling. You get to your desk and stare, not knowing what to do first. No matter what project you pick up to start, you feel like it is impossible to finish. Deadlines are pressing in on you and it is impossible to meet them all - but you try anyway. You multi-task like crazy but it is obvious that your brain is “full” and details, even appointments, slip your mind as you try to remember it all. You feel the weight of a thousand responsibilities resting on your shoulders.
Every leader I know goes through periods of feeling overwhelmed. It is so pervasive that we are tempted to think of it as normal. Leaders ask more and more of themselves, and to cope we work longer hours, create complex systems for organizing and beat ourselves up for not keeping up.
As a result, the joy goes out of our work. We lose our vision. We disconnect - from people, meaning, and purpose. When overwhelmed we lose inspiration and it actually becomes harder to do our work.
When you feel overwhelmed remember, it’s not a condition forced upon us. We have a choice about it. “Overwhelmed” is the feeling of hopelessness that comes over us when we see the gap between reality and the expectations placed on ourselves.
So what can you do about it?
• Are you asking more of yourself than others are asking?
• Who set the deadlines? Are you applying undue pressure on yourself because of misjudging how long a project would take to implement?
• Are you addicted to pressure? Try letting joy be your motivator and you will actually become more effective.
• Have you lost the sharpness of your vision? Try narrowing your focus - bring it under control again.
• Ask, “What is the one thing I can do in the next hour/day/week that will give me the greatest sense of accomplishment?”
• Look around you - are the right people in place to assist and help you accomplish more? Delegate more - now!

“Moses’ father-in-law replied, ‘What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.’”
- Exodus 18:17, 18.