One of my employees mentioned struggling to get her work done after being asked to take on new work.
What I told her was simple: you’re being asked to take on new work because we see you as the person who can help us solve this problem in our business.
And what I suggested she do is prioritize her work tasks and continue to take on the highest level, most important tasks on that list (it’s what adds value to her position and what leads to better titles, positions, and pay) and to delegate the rest of the lower level, easier to do tasks.
What doesn’t lead to better titles, positions, and pay is overcommitting and underperforming. Burning out isn’t good for anybody—not her and not the business. And neither is spreading herself too thin day-in and day-out and pretending like everything is fine.
And if delegating isn’t an option for you in the context of your life… then consider deploying the same strategy, but automating or deleting those lowest level tasks instead.
Something has got to give.
And if it’s not some of your tasks… then it’s probably gonna be you.