Do You 'Wear a Lot of Hats' at Work? These 3 tips can help.

"I wear a lot of hats" is not a fashion statement anymore. Instead, it's a statement about your professional versatility, agility, and capability. Wearing a lot of hats means you can do just about anything. 

But wearing lots of hats can be stressful! So we're here to help, with 3 simple tips for employees like you who find themselves juggling new and competing responsibilities.

Thanks to the pandemic, so many of us are playing new roles at our companies. Millions of workers are helping to fill gaps, or suddenly have to help out with planning events, employee engagement programs, or fostering your company culture. It's not easy.

But here are some important hints for managing all those hats!

1. Take your lunch break.

While working from home, the line between "at work" and "at home" can be blurry. And when you're not in the same physical workplace, it may be difficult for your manager to see that you're really stressed out. So, you need to take a break. Seriously. For real.

To avoid burnout, you need to set barriers. It's not healthy—mentally or physically—to arrive at your laptop first thing in the morning and just grind, grind grind until it's time for bed. So, block off an hour of your day for lunch, and step away from your screen for the full time!

When you finish eating, don't just race back to your desk! Try reading a book, meditating, or going for a walk (mask on, of course!).

>> Want to improve your team's mental health & wellness? Try a meditation or stretching session!

Taking this time for yourself is not only good for you, it's good for the company because it'll help you re-focus and improve your productivity!

2. Plan & Prioritize!

One of the biggest challenges in taking on new responsibilities is making sure that you properly allocate your time so you can balance it all. Especially when you have new things on your plate, there can be a lot of churn when you switch tasks or go from meeting to meeting, then back to a new task.

So, before you go into each day or week, develop a plan for what you want to accomplish and how you're going to get there. How long will it take you to do X, Y, or Z? When you add up all that time and subtract the time spent in meetings, is that a reasonable work week? Or do you need to re-prioritize, push back the timeline, or ask for help?

Which leads us to our last tip...

3. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

You are already a rock star—that's why people trust you to wear new hats, help where it's needed, and get things done. But you don't have to do everything on your own. One of the most important things to learn as you juggle these priorities is when to ask for help.

In many cases, you can also accomplish a whole lot more by hiring a vendor that is an expert in your new area of responsibility. By working with a trusted expert, you still manage the project and are responsible for its success, but you don't get bogged down with having to do all the micro-tasks day in and day out. For example, if you're in charge of planning the company's next fun event, you can just reach out to your favorite virtual events team over here at ZogCulture! 😉

Wearing a lot of hats is a big responsibility, but it's also a big opportunity for your professional growth. So, just follow these tips and you'll be on your way to even bigger, better success!

Looking for help planning your virtual events or programming to help build company culture? We can help!