Sarah,

Thank you for your blog about the leadership lesson you took from James Gordon Gilkey (Watson, 1951). It is very relevant to my life currently. I have multiple things I am juggling at the moment and have found it quite easy to be overwhelmed with all of them. This is a great reminder to accomplish all my tasks one step at a time.

This makes me think of the numerous productivity blogs that are written that discuss this idea of scheduling your days and weeks by first scheduling the “big rocks” (Franklin Covey Co., n.d.). The idea behind this is that we have to look at the obligations we have and the tasks we have to accomplish and prioritize the things that are more important to us; after we have done that we can then plan for the smaller, less important tasks (Franklin Covey Co., n.d.). Like you, I start my day with a to-do list of the tasks I want to get done for the day. I also do the same at home. Something I have found though is that I rarely accomplish these lists in one day because often things I cannot foresee come up. I am planning to try this idea of scheduling my big tasks first and letting the smaller less important tasks fill the remainder of my time. I think that as the day goes on, and more things get added to the to-do list this will help me focus on the things that are important.

I think another aid in this is to set SMART goals (Campbell, 2015). SMART is an acronym for goals that are “specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely” (Campbell, 2015). While I have not explicitly used this idea often in my own life and leadership I think that it would help me prioritize tasks and allocate proper amounts of time for them. This in turn I think would help me be less overwhelmed.

You also mentioned your supervisors responding that they do not have time to help you. For myself as a leader I have sometimes felt like I do not have time to help my staff with the tasks they are asking me to help them with. But I agree with you that “a leader needs to make time for their staff, and support them when they ask for help or need it” (Jasmins, 2018, para. 3). As a result I have made it a practice to schedule time to meet with my staff. This includes a short staff meeting we have each morning where they know they can ask me to help them if they need it, or where they know they can schedule a time during the day that works for both of us to meet. I have also found it helpful to ask them how much time they think they need to meet with me. This is not to make them feel rushed, which they know, but is so that I can make sure that the time I allocate to meet with them will be sufficient to help them. I have no idea what your relationship with your superiors is like, or what is possible in your work environment, and you may have already tried this, but I would suggest perhaps trying to schedule a meeting with them when you need help. It may work for them in their schedule and may lead to you feeling more supported.

As a final note, when I feel overwhelmed or anxious I have often had to remind myself of the verse in Matthew 6:34 which says, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (ESV).

References:

Campbell, J. (2015). SMART criteria. Salem Press Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=100259301&site=eds-live

Franklin Covey Co. (n.d.). Choice 3: Schedule the big rocks, don’t sort the gravel [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.franklincovey.com/the-5-choices/choice-3.html

Jasmins, S. (2018, November 15). Light from many lamps [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/sjasmins/2018/11/15/light-from-many-lamps-3/

Watson, L.E. (1951). Light from many lamps. New York: Simon and Schuster.