Saying ‘yes’ and being in-demand can absolutely be a career accelerator and a fast track to promotion.
But at the same time, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by work demands. Worse, it could lead to career burnout.
But if you manage it the right way, being in-demand can actually be an accelerator for your career.
Here’s are five things that I’ve observed that have helped me to take care of work AND accelerate my career:
1. Simplify: I’ve found immense value in simplifying. Whether it is simplifying business processes by reducing # of steps, or converging tech stacks and APIs, or just clarifying up roles and responsibilities…this creates leverage for you and your team because: simple scales, complex fails. To scale yourself, make your working mechanism simpler.
2. Prioritize: With more work comes more demands on your time. It’s important to prioritize your tasks and focus on the things that are most important and will have the biggest impact.
I like to use the Eisenhower matrix to distinguish between what’s important vs what’s urgent.
3. Delegate: It’s easy to get caught up in the mindset that you have to do everything yourself, but that’s not sustainable in the long run. Don’t be afraid to delegate to others or get help, whether it’s to a team member or a strategic consultant (hint: Spearhead) 🙂
4. Take breaks: It’s important to take breaks and recharge your batteries, even when you’re in-demand. Make sure to schedule regular breaks and vacations to avoid burnout.
5. Communicate: With more work comes more communication. Make sure to keep your team and stakeholders in the loop and be clear about your availability and priorities. I’ve found that publishing updates frequently to an online collaboration area can reduce the need to communicate by over 30%.
With these techniques, you can manage your work demands and still come out a winner as an in-demand leader on a fast track to promotion.
What are some techniques that have helped you to manage your word demands?
#careeradvice #burnout #productivityimprovement #personalbranding #leadership
