Overwhelm is Not a Personal Failing
Overwhelm is not a personal failing.
It’s not a reflection of your character. You’re not broken. You’re not bad at your job. You’re not lazy or disorganised.
More often than not, overwhelm is a systems issue.
You might not be clear on your priorities, so everything feels urgent.
This can lead to working on too many projects at once and constantly context-switching.
Context-switching is cognitively exhausting—it drains focus and slows you down.
Juggling multiple projects often brings added administrative overhead—work about work—emails, meetings, and conversations that pile on pressure without moving anything forward.
You might not even have a clear picture of your workload, which makes it nearly impossible to decide what to do next.
It’s no wonder you feel overwhelmed.
Instead of blaming yourself, try looking at your systems.
Could you adjust how you track your work? Reduce context-switching? Build in time to review and plan before diving in?
Small systems shifts can make a big difference. What’s one system tweak that’s helped you feel less overwhelmed (or could help you)?
