You're starting a new job in strategic communications. How do you avoid overworking yourself?

Spend time before each engagement (crisis, retained, project, whatever) and determine what's urgent and what isn't. Just because a client WANTS something ASAP doesn't mean they NEED something ASAP. Have good teammates Find a mentor Make sure your partner/spouse is aware of your stresses, especially if you're in the midst of working on a crisis. I'm pretty sure being Sabbath observant has kept my career going. I'm not suggesting everyone go that far, but definitely find time to unplug *every week* for a few hours (in a row).

Make sure to walk your client through your thought process for getting to your completed plan. As a strategist, it can be easy to get lost in the 'how' but it is equally as important to bring your client on the journey of understanding 'why' these are the steps necessary for achieving those shared goals. Bring them along this journey with you if not only for transparency, but buy-in and an additonal perspective as well.

One of the first things you should do when you start a new job in strategic communications is to set realistic and achievable goals for yourself and your projects. You may be tempted to impress your boss, colleagues, and clients with your skills and ideas, but don't overcommit or overpromise. Be clear about your scope, deadlines, and deliverables, and communicate them with your team. Prioritize your tasks and focus on the most important and urgent ones. And don't forget to celebrate your accomplishments and learn from your challenges.

Define what is most important and most impactful to your project's constituents from the start. Resist the temptation to do all or achieve perfection at the first iteration of a deliverable. Communicate consistently through each stage of a project to your boss, team, and clients. Don't overcommit yourself in the short term at the expense of your long-term ability to deliver consistent results. Remember: Happiness = Expectations — Reality.

In my experience, one of the most common reasons for overworking yourself as an employee in communications is an unrealistic scope of tasks and areas of responsibilities in the job description. Expectation management is key here. My advice would be to take the job description to an experienced professional in communications and discuss with them what you can realistically achieve and deliver without burning out. Then, BEFORE signing the contract, discuss this with your boss(es) and - if possible - reduce the workload & expectations and discuss, if you can hire assistants and/or freelancers, in situations when you are overloaded. If you are already in a job, you might have to renegotiate your responsibilities, but that will always be harder.

Maybe one of the most difficult aims to achieve but it is basic to establish limits because you can end becoming a workaholic. We are in a world where everything goes very fast and, in that sense, communication is one of the best examples. You could be all day on your mobile phone, laptop… You must try to enjoy your free time, have hobbies, and dedicate time to your friends, family, and to yourself. It is very difficult not to feel guilty when you know something is happening or your team is facing problems, but you must try to put some distance. it is very hard to disconnect, but you must learn because it will be end being worse for you and the rest of your team.

To keep your workload manageable, it’s also critical to set boundaries with your internal stakeholders. Make your strategy, goals, objectives and KPIs visible and educate them on what strategic communications is and is not. In too many organizations, the value of communications is not well understood. This can lead to communications being viewed as a “utility player” instead of a strategic function, which can quickly snowball into unsustainable workloads and burnout.

While it's important to set boundaries, it's also important to remain flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. Be open to new ideas and opportunities, and be willing to adjust your boundaries as needed. Consistency is key in strategic communications. Make sure the messaging is consistent across all channels and platforms to build trust and credibility with the Target group.

Another way to avoid overworking yourself is to establish and maintain healthy boundaries between your work and your personal life. This means respecting your working hours, taking breaks, and disconnecting from your devices when you're off. It also means saying no to unreasonable requests, delegating when possible, and asking for help when you need it. Don't let your work consume your identity or your happiness. Remember that you're more than your job, and that you have other roles and interests that enrich your life.

It is essential to prioritize. Not every request and every wish should have priority A, nor can they. If there are only processes that are “urgent” or “very urgent”, this inevitably leads to overload. You have to ask yourself: What benefit does it ultimately serve my organization? What is the consequence if it is only published tomorrow? Is it perhaps already unnecessary then? Only if the benefit is great or the consequences of not acting immediately are great should I put myself and those around me under stress.

Es hiper necesario equilibrar la vida personal y laboral en todas las profesiones, pero mucho más en el mundo de las comunicaciones que se mueven al ritmo de la inmediatez de los acontecimientos !

Create a yearly objectives plan at the beginning of your year (or at anytime, honestly) that will help you prioritize which skills you want to further develop. This gives you the chance to reorient yourself as new trends and technologies emerge. Make sure to seek feedback from your teammates too! In communications we don't work in isolation, so learn about what your teammates are learning, how they're learning and what they want to learn too.

It all begins with creating a clear work plan, ensuring it's done in collaboration with all company departments. Clearly outline upcoming key events and specify the type of support needed for each. This enables proper alignment of your team. Additionally, ensure you create all necessary communication tools for project implementation tracking, media management, etc. If your company is susceptible to crises, establish a comprehensive crisis management strategy with pre-determined messages. From experience, the biggest time drain in corporate communications often comes from unforeseen support requests from other departments, typically with unrealistic timelines. In such instances, develop a production schedule for each needed service.

Managing the expectations of your leaders and peer groups helps to develop your first concept. After evaluating and getting feedback you shape and fine tune your next milestones. Going forward step by step you save overload of time and stress.

The first thing you'll want to do is, build a time machine, go back in time to the moment you made your career decision, and make another choice.

Know your limits, as well as your strengths. Plan in a way that will allow you to use strengths at their maximum. And for the parts that you are still not enough good or take to many efforts, don't hesitate to ask for help. And prioritize. Give maximum efforts to the things are really important. Celebrate successes - it will help you to visualize the final point in a more optimistic light.

remember to embrace the joy and purpose that drew you to this career path. You chose this field because you enjoy the art of creation, the power of connection, and the ability to influence. Take pride in the meaningful and impactful projects you'll be working on, and relish the opportunity to collaborate with diverse and talented individuals.

At the end of the day, communications is a creative field, and creativity grows with a happy mind. It’s important to always find joy and pride in the work, and know the right time to disconnect a bit in order to preserve that happy mind.

Enjoy the creativity, personal connections, fun - take a moment to celebrate the fact that you can use your brain and communications talent to facilitate communications between your organization and the broader world. You're a communicator!

Confucius once said “Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.” You feel that what you do is a chore and you’re overworked if you don’t love what you do or if you don’t do what you love. This takes the fun out of what you do and diminishes your passion and creativity—both of which are crucial to being a good communicator. If you’re new to this job, fun will come if you enjoy what you’re doing. Find your groove and figure out what brings you joy in doing strategic communications. Be grateful for what you do and how you’re able to bless your company and/or your customers and joy will come. This way, you won’t feel overworked even if you’re just a newbie.

Divertirme y disfrutar de mi trabajo ha sido la clave para dejar de padecer el stress que muchas veces genera la profesión y comenzar a ser feliz! Y lo que se produjo fue una fusión de los planos laboral y personal, siendo una continuidad en mi vida, pasando de un rol a otro sin cambios de humor, porque definitivamente soy una apasionada de lo que hago y una apasionada de vivir y soy una agradecida por ese privilegio de vivir de lo que amo.

One thing I have found helpful as well is having lots and lots of clarity in tasks. Be as clear as possible as to what is to be done, at what stage and who are the actors in each. This will assist you in planning your work and even notifying any other parties in the organisation that you may need input from, such that they can slot a time for the task. Otherwise, lack of clarity of expectations and roles leads to being overwhelmed by deadlines which were not planned for in advance. And try as much as you can to delegate the non-technical roles. It will free up lots of your time such that you can create time to be creative about the whole project process. Delegation also helps you identify the strengths of each team member and utilise it.