Coping With an Increased Workload

SCHOOL CAN INCREASE STRESS LEVELS IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE BEST WAY TO MANAGE AN INCREASED WORKLOAD. IN FACT, A LOT OF THE TIME WHEN WE HAVE A HEAVY WORKLOAD, WE STRESS SO MUCH THAT WE END UP NOT DOING IT AT ALL. PRETTY COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE. TO HELP TACKLE THAT INCREASING WORKLOAD, WE’VE PUT TOGETHER SOME TIPS FOR YOU. READ ON TO FIND OUT ABOUT COPING WITH INCREASED WORKLOAD.

GET A PLANNER/CREATE A TIMETABLE

Note down all the different tasks you need to do and what the deadline is. Use this method even if you aren’t trying to cope with increased workload as it will always help. You don’t need to be over-specific and plan each hour, and you don’t want to be unrealistic and give yourself an impossible amount of work to do each day. Make sure you set realistic deadlines otherwise, you end up giving up on the timetable because you fall behind early on. Your timetable should be a gentle reminder or a project manager tool for what you should be doing and when.

I’d recommend a weekly timetable where you write what you want to achieve each day. Organise the time within each day however, you want and base it on how you feel. Make sure you keep a work-life balance and ease the work pressure. Don’t fancy starting with maths? Cool start with some Geography instead but make sure you know when your maths deadline is.

Prioritise

Prioritising your work is about being wise with your workload and doing the most important or urgent things first to get them out of the way. There’s a really cool table that you can draw every day/week when planning what needs to be done. Use this tip to help prioritise and act as a project manager for you!

It looks like this:

	Urgent	Not urgent
Important	Finish pres	Read novel
Not important	Buy birthday outfit	Watch netflix

The green box is your high-priority work that needs to be done ASAP. The orange boxes are in between and have a bit more flexibility. Your red box is low-priority that you do at the end when you have more time. Each task is important but by managing the deadlines for each task you help with your workload management. This will also help you to manage your all-important work-life balance and make sure you don’t end up working long hours to meet last-minute deadlines!

Coping with increased workload – Track your time

Throughout your day, monitor how you’re spending your time and look at when you’re most productive, and when you’re most sleepy or distracted. With this information, you can make sure you get the tasks in your green box done when you’re most productive, and then take a break. Have a power nap or start your orange/red box tasks when you’re least productive. This way, you’re using your time most effectively and managing your workload. Any sudden increased workloads you’ll be well prepared for and by being in control you’ll avoid the risk of burnout.

Why not try out the top tips in our article here about Starting a School Diary to Track Your Progress

Minimise distractions

It’s so easy to reply to that one text message, and then just real quickly check that Snapchat notification, and then send a quick tweet about how you hate revision, and then watch a youtube video to motivate you. Suddenly it’s a few hours later and you’re watching an elephant give birth and you’re wondering why it’s so dark outside. Then comes the increased stress levels as you realise the day has run away from you and you still have a deadline to meet! Now you have to work long hours, your productivity might be impacted and you’ll probably be feeling your stress levels rise! All because one text message led to hours of procrastinating! So take away the distractions! Reducing distractions is especially important when you find yourself coping with an increased workload.

Gain some perspective

It’s easy to lose sight of why you’re coping with an increased workload and just give up. In these moments, take a step back, forget the work and remind yourself of your end goal. Maybe career advice has helped you focus your learning on a dream career. Why did you pick these subjects you study? Why are you doing these specific tasks? What grades do you want to get? How will working hard now help get you where you want to be in 5 years? This should help recharge you by giving you a sense of purpose, and you can now power through quadratic equations and plant biology.

Take care of yourself

Whilst all of this is great practical advice, at the end of the day, your mental health and wellbeing is the most important thing. Make sure you’re sleeping early and sleeping enough, exercise for at least 20 minutes during the day, and take plenty of breaks. Eat well, start saying no when people ask you to do more things and ask for help from your parents, siblings, friends or teachers. Use your timetable and only take on extra tasks you can comfortably manage that won’t impact on your deadlines.

You might feel like you just don’t have the time for any of this, but your wellbeing is key. Pausing to take care of yourself is so important and, you’ll feel so much better and you’ll end up doing more work and being more productive as a result.

Take a look at our related article HERE to see our blog post on how to turn stressed into desserts! Or why not take a look at the article we found here about how to get organised when it comes to homework.