You have to know when you're approaching your limit. Before you get to that, you have to be able to say no to new things or scale back ongoing things so you aren't working past your limit.

As an example, right now with work I'm juggling 3 main things. Working on research for an upcoming project. A project working on some information collecting, surveying and assessments of those results. And some review of business development documents. I'm close to my limit. I have time for them all, but just barely enough. I know my priority right now are the first two. I have already started scaling back on business development reviews. I was doing these as a favor to lend a hand and the other two things are more important.

I already know if I get asked to do more business development review work, I will say no and decline. I won't feel bad. I'm certain I won't get in trouble. I can set the boundaries that I have other important priorities right now. So while I know there's a lot going on and I sense my limit getting close, I have to protect myself from doing too much that will stress me out and burn me out.

[–] DrunkenWombat 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Totally agree. Good businesses will not belittle you for properly communicating when you are at your limit, they will seek out solutions to properly balance the work with the available resources. It is better to communicate that you can either continue your current priorities or you can drop x and y completely and refocus on z. If you take on too much and get none of x, y, or z done, then you, your peers, and the business are in trouble. Management of expectations is paramount. People don't like to be surprised, and business does not have a conscious or feelings; manage the expectations of your peers, and don't lose sleep about whether you offended the business by saying no, because it doesn't care, it just wants to find some path to monetary success.