Are you being eaten alive by your inbox? Are you drowning in a mountain of paperwork? Are you eating lunch at your desk because you can’t step away from that project? Are you being overwhelmed with work?

On any given day, office workers can juggle multiple projects and tasks while keeping an eye out for email replies and deadlines. It’s enough to make an employee feel overwhelmed. Driven employees fall into the trap of taking on too many tasks. When the usual productivity tricks no longer work, how can you get your groove back and get some work done? To prioritize your workload, ask yourself these three questions:

Is it important?
When you’re drowning in tasks and projects, the very first (and most important) thing to ask yourself is “is this important?” Ask this for every single task and answer honestly. You have to decide what tasks are imperative to your project. Things like ‘answer emails’ and ‘make copies’ are low-value tasks and can wait until you have time to work on them. Be sure you only work on tasks that have a direct impact on achieving your objectives or can contribute to the success of your project. Be ruthless in cutting out low-value tasks, at least until you can get back to a more manageable workload.

Is it urgent?
The next thing to ask yourself is “is this urgent?”. These tasks are usually low value but have to be completed, otherwise, it can lead to a negative outcome. For example, booking a meeting room will not directly impact your project but not having a meeting room can lead to not being able to discuss the project with stakeholders. Make sure to give yourself a timeline. You need not spend a lot of time on urgent tasks, they are usually completed in 5mins. Anything longer and you’re wasting valuable time that should be spent focusing on the more important tasks. Urgent tasks are usually comprised of dealing with the daily crisis. Get them out of the way and shift your focus.

How do you decide?
Here’s a tip: not everything is important or urgent. The business will not fail overnight if you drop the ball.
Just make sure you do not drop a huge ball. Knowing which tasks are important takes a lot of practice and a lot of introspection. You have to be honest with yourself and not blow the importance of tasks out of proportion. You don’t have to do everything yourself. Most people fall into the trap of ‘overwhelm’ by taking on too much and saying ‘yes’ to everything. There are a few things you can do: to push back, delegate, or ask for more time. Each of these can buy you more time to manage your workload.

How about you, how do you manage an overwhelming workload? What are your tips on prioritizing a huge workload? Share your workload management tips with us in the comments. Remember to stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

At one point in your life, you might have felt that you may have picked the wrong career. You might have dreamt of switching to a different career, one that is more aligned with your vision…or at the very least, with the course you majored in college.

However, jumping from one career to another isn’t easy. We are all held back by fear. On one hand, a career change could mean more avenues to explore your potential and new opportunities to discover. One the other hand, it could mean starting over from scratch and not being equipped with the skills needed for your career to take off. If only there was a guarantee, but like everything in life, there are no guarantees. You can only jump in and hope that everything goes your way. 

If you’re planning on switching careers, best of luck to you.We know that you can make it work. Make sure to avoid these career switch mistakes and you’re all set.

The mistake of chasing money

Your deciding factor should be how well the job suits you, not how much it pays. Most career burnout horror stories start with being lured to switch to that high paying – high powered job only to burnout and be left with a life’s worth of mental illness. A career switch isn’t a solution if you’re looking for bigger pay. You should chase growth and purpose instead of a paycheck.

The mistake of thinking a switch will make you happier

Sure, you’re unhappy at work. You dread Mondays. You’re working for the weekend. I could go on with all the “ I hate work!” cliches but answer this: Is it really your career that’s making you unhappy? Could it be the work environment? Could it be that you’re surrounded by difficult people? Could it be bad boundaries? Think hard about this: is the industry to blame or is it the bad work environment? You might be better off looking for a new opportunity while staying in the same industry.

The mistake of comparing yourself to others

Seeing someone you know do well in a different industry is really a huge draw because you see their success first hand. You might be thinking “I am very determined to learn and if they can do it, so can I!” When your friend makes a killing in sales and you’re stuck in the office as an HR professional, it’s not a long shot to entertain thoughts of switching to a career in sales. However, remember that you do not have the same skill set and skills are not acquired by simply observing from the outside.

The mistake of switching to a “hot” field

Not all industries are created equal. Some really do pay more than others. Some are so in demand that you don’t need to look for a job, the job finds you. But “hot” careers come and go and although you might have the skills and knowledge to make it big in this “hot” career, it is still prudent to assess if it will still be a “hot” career down the line.

What tips can you give those who are planning on switching careers? Share them with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp

A while back we had to hire staff for a new position that our team never had before. I wrote a lengthy job description thinking it would answer all the questions of a potential applicant only to be told that the job description published sounded intimidating. I thought I was being comprehensive and helpful, but I didn’t realize what I wrote was overwhelming. 

In reality, a well written and concise job description helps you find a great potential hire and will help you weed out those who are not a good fit. Here are a few tips for how to write a great job description that will help you attract your next star performer.

What is the job title? – what will be the position your potential hire is going to fill? What department will they be under?

Who will be the stakeholders? – potential hires should know who they are going to report to or if they will be working with teams. 

What are the essential job requirements and what are the key responsibilities? – you don’t have to get into the nitty-gritty details, that can be discussed during the interview. However, you have to be clear about the requirements and qualifications that you think a potential hire should possess in order to do the job right. Also, detail the key responsibilities, preferably in a separate paragraph as bullet points. This way, the potential hire will know what to essential skills are expected of them and compare that against their existing skillset accordingly. 

What type of employee is needed? – by this, I mean you should be straightforward and describe if the position is a casual position, a temporary position, a permanent position, etc. Also describe if it is a project-based job or if it is a remote job/freelance job, and what working hours are required.

When is the start date? – let your potential hires know what the expected start date is. This is especially critical if the potential hire is meant to replace someone else.

Put them together and you should  have something like this:

• Job title, the department and the person to whom the employee will report.
• The person’s responsibilities: what will the employee be doing (essential responsibilities)  and what is their objective (how can they help the company?).
• The most important tasks and responsibilities – a bulleted list of the potential hire’s key tasks that can be discussed in detail upon being shortlisted or interviewed.
• Skills and characteristics that a good candidate should have, employment requirements and desired level of education.

Not only can you use your job description to attract the best candidate, but it is also a chance for you to tell prospective employees the benefits of working for your business. Introduce your company with a few strong points and a link to your website or online business profile.

What are your tips for writing a great job description? Share your tips with us in the comments. Stay humble and hustle hard.

Written by Jaie O. TheHelp