Signs You Are Overcommitted

How do you feel about work? Does it feel like you've got a lot on your plate? However, busy you feel, you may not really think it's an issue. You may not have developed the commitment phobia just yet, perhaps because you've become so accustomed to doing a lot. 

But when the things you need to do start to pile up and more tasks are coming your way, having your plate overfull with things is stressful. It makes you feel anxious about not being able to meet everything. But there's no need to fret just yet. Perhaps all you need is to think about how things came about. 

Why have you become so overloaded? When did you start overcommitting, and why did you feel the need to say yes to so many things? How do you deal with the problem at hand? Your answer to all these questions will help you realize what could be done to address the issue. 

At this point, perhaps the first, though not the easiest decision is to simplify. You have taken on too much and told so many people that you can accomplish everything yourself.

But how do you know you have taken too much?

What Does It Mean To Take On Too Much?

How much available time do you have? Does it feel like you have taken on too much? When you're overcommitted, it's because you've said "yes" to too many obligations. Perhaps you said yes because you wanted to help your fellow man, or you wanted to show your boss that you were a team player. Saying "yes" isn't always bad. However, it becomes a problem when you're too stress or spread thin. What happens next is that you fail to deliver what you promised because you were overwhelmed by all things you have to do. You will feel bad about yourself. You get sad and begin to feel depressed. 

You promised yourself you would try to cover everything, but you failed. Often, such situations lead to other consequences.

You become untrustworthy.

You promised to deliver results, and you didn't. This makes you untrustworthy. People around you will think that you can't be trusted with anything. In the future, when you make promises, especially at work, people won't believe you. 

You won't be good at finishing things. 

You're usually very good at multitasking. That worked well for you in the past. But lately, if you tried to multitask, you failed several times. You might want to rethink multitasking. Because you're overcommitted, you are unable to finish tasks because you tried to do it alongside other assignments when you know you couldn't. 

You get out, especially when things become too complicated. 

When you have too much to do, you end up giving up on them the moment they become too challenging. As soon as you think you can't do it, you feel uncomfortable, and so you decide to give up. 

Have you tried a different approach? You are not a quitter. You know that. You need to stay through the discomfort. But how do you get yourself out of such a situation?

Better yet, how do you keep yourself from overcommitting?

Telltale Signs You Have Overcommitted

Ever wondered how to get over commitment issues? How can you tell if you need to take a step back and relax? Here are several signs of overworking and how you can overcome them: 

You start forgetting about tasks.

Forgetting to do one thing every once in a while is human and not usually a problem. But when you begin to slip off and forget several things, it might mean that you are dealing with something more severe than you think. 

If it helps, you can make a to-do list to guide you. Being forgetful won't be good for you, but you can overcome it by taking on simple steps. Go ahead and make that change in your lifestyle. 

Start with a list. As time passes, you'll be able to develop more skills to get you organized.

You start to commit errors. 

When you are so used to doing things yourself, you want to make sure that you are giving it your best. But then, it is also easier to take notice of the errors that you commit along the way. So when you start to make mistakes, it only means that you might have overcommitted yourself to do too many things at the same time. 

You never want to make mistakes, especially on critical things. Keep in mind that the errors are there to remind you that you need to stop and look into what you are doing. The responsibilities that you have should be balanced in order to cover everything you need. 

Whether the error was small or big, they make a significant impact on the work that you do. 

You start to commit errors in spelling and grammar. 

If you do a fair amount of writing every day, you know how important it is to get every word right. On good days, you are able to go and respond to at least twenty emails without making a single error in grammar and spelling. 

However, on days when you feel exhausted and stressed, the mistakes that you make in terms of grammar and writing pile up like a pile of bricks. Going back to fix each one can take a lot of time and effort. 

In turn, instead of being productive, you end up reviewing every single document you wrote to look for mistakes. Correcting each one isn't the solution. The end goal should always be about not committing those errors again. 

You need to put in more time.

This is one of the clear signs that you are overworked. You are forced to push yourself further, so in the end, you compromise not only the quality of work but the real amount of productivity as well. 

Once you have passed the peak of your work performance, you end up with diminishing returns. It's the worst kind of end-product you can have after a work-day. In the end, it could lead you to put in more time but still not get enough done. 

Track your time. Take note of what needs to be done. When the task typically takes you an hour or two to finish, make that your goal. 

At the end of the day, give yourself a break. You know you deserve it. Reward yourself for the hard work that you put into doing your tasks. Reprioritize if you need to. Delegate the work that you can. 

When you have less on your plate, you can still achieve the utmost productivity. You do this by maximizing your potential and accomplishing each task with only greatness in mind.