4 levels of overwhelmingness

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I’ve been thinking a lot about the different levels of overwhelmingness, because even if two people say they’re overwhelmed, they’re often overwhelmed in very different ways.

To me, there are four levels of overwhelmingness.

Level 1: Complete chaos.

You’re lost. Drowning in tasks.

If you use Asana, my recommendation is:

  1. Clean your My Tasks view
  2. Empty your inboxDo this consistently, and you’ll move up to level 2. If you can’t even find time to do that, you are at level 0. It’s impossible to help you because you don’t have any time to help yourself.

Level 2: Full plate, but organized.

You’re on top of your system, but there’s just too much to do.

My recommendation:

  1. Bucket your tasks: ideas in an Ideas bucket, non-urgent team tasks unassigned in a To-Do bucket
  2. Unassign yourself from things that aren’t critical
  3. Talk to your manager if your workload still feels too heavyThis unlocks level 3.

Level 3: Self-induced overwhelm.

You’re fully organized. Your plate isn’t that full. But you keep piling more on, because you’re excited and/or you wanna help and/or you keep chasing the next shiny thing.

AI is a good example. There’s so much to explore, and not enough time. You create your own overwhelm by chasing everything that excites you. But you’re still not wise enough to reach level four.

Level 4: Flow.

This is the goal.

You’re organized. You don’t jump on every shiny thing.

You’re available to help your team. And when there’s nothing urgent, you calmly work on your own priorities.

I believe getting to level 4 requires two things. You need a team to delegate things to, and that team might actually need assistance to delegate to as well and/or use AI Teammate. And you probably need to review your ambition. You need to define clear goals for the year and stay on track, and only do those

I think I’m at level 3 right now.

Well organized. Not drowning. But I get excited too easily. For example, as I move through Asana, I see things to fix, I chase them, I overload myself. And then I reach level 4, and after 2 days I am back at level 3 or even level 2.

Hopefully, one day, I’ll stay at level 4.

Bastien, Asana Expert
i.DO (Asana Partner: Services & Licenses)

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