Thoughts over coffee: Part nine

Coffee and I are old friends (coffee is way older than me of course) and I do a lot of thinking over coffee. With this in mind I decided to start a little concept called thoughts over coffee which I'll be doing from time to time.

I don't like laziness or reward it and while I don't have anything against down-time, relaxation, doing nothing and such other legitimate activities being lazy grinds my gears. There's many different forms of laziness including below.

Laziness - Overwhelmed

"I'll never get it all done; there's just too much to do, too little time, not enough support, the right tools aren't available..."

I've heard people say things like that so many times and with an attitude like that there's no wonder so many people fail to gain ground, make progress, and achieve their best results. They're convincing themselves it can't be done and that leaves them feeling overwhelmed which is hardly the best way to proceed into their pursuit of great results.

I usually pull people aside and have a chat in these cases, calm them down and talk things through. I don't take away their responsibility though, that's a sure way to sap even more of their confidence; instead, I bump them towards a better focus by helping them simplify things. Adding pressure doesn't help, finding greater simplicity does.

Imagine having an argument with your partner in which every single thing from the last ten years is brought up in the same argument...no one wants that! Because of the complexity the true issues can't be dealt with. Breaking it down and focusing on each thing one at a time is one way to regain control and it's the feeling of being in control that pushes aside the feelings of being overwhelmed.

Announcing how overwhelmed one is often happens out of laziness, especially in the workplace...it's handled the same way though; identify the true and core tasks and focus on them one by one...and for a leader, provide support without removing responsibility.

What do you reckon? If you want to comment below then go ahead, I'm interested in your thoughts and experiences.