We Overload Ourselves
Why We Voluntarily Drown in Work (And How to Stop)
Too many commitments, scrambling to keep up, secretly prideful of our “busyness.” “Oh, I am soooo important!”
At the same time, we complain about too many meetings, unreasonable demands, and never any time to “just work.”
Overload is pushed (bosses give it to us) sure, but it turns out that the root of overload isn’t just external demands—it’s our own instincts.
Some Definitions: WIP and Martyrdom?
WIP (Work-in-Progress)
noun
The total amount of work (tasks, projects, or commitments) that has been started but not yet finished, actively consuming attention, time, or resources.
Work-in-Progress (WIP) are the things we’ve started but not finished. Like a highway, our brains have limited bandwidth for active work. Exceed that capacity, and everything slows down.
In the video we talk about a specific type: Martyr WIP where we voluntarily take on more than we can handle. It’s not just about saying “yes” to others or even fear of punishment for “no,” it’s about craving validation, fearing irrelevance, or equating productivity with worth.
In the video I say, “We sign up for it, we basically just say ‘abuse us.’”
The Overload Tug of War: We Pull Just as Much as We’re Pushed
Overload isn’t just about others dumping work on us. We actively pull it in through:
The “High Score” Trap: Chasing metrics like tasks completed, speed of delivery, or hours worked, even when they don’t align with real priorities.
Illusion of Progress: Starting a bunch of tasks to avoid disappointing anyone, (Have you started my task yet?) then spending more time managing them (having meetings, updating on status) than actually doing the work.
Identity Attachment: Becoming “the person who handles X,” which locks us into servitude.
“I’ve got all this professional desire, personal desire, and so I’m voluntarily drowning.”
Why Overload Backfires
Overload crushes us because our brains just can’t handle it. It creates cycles where we hate it, crave more of it, and in the end build systems that keep piling it on.
The Zeigarnik Effect: Unfinished tasks haunt our brains, increasing anxiety and reducing focus.
Collaboration Erosion: Do you hate silos? Martyrdom breeds silos. When we hoard work, we deny others growth opportunities and create single points of failure in ourselves. We make ourselves little silos of one.
The Stanford Multitasking Myth: Research shows chronic multitaskers perform worse on all tasks due to cognitive overload.
Breaking the Cycle: A 4-Step Framework
Step One: Visualize Your Real Work
We want to build a Personal Kanban that shows the types of work that we have and gives us triggers to deal with it in less self-harmful ways. Start by create a simple Personal Kanban board that uses columns to call out they types of work:
Backlog → Teaching | Deciding | Complex | Me → Doing → Done.
Teaching: Tasks that upskill others (e.g., “Document this process with Julie”).
Deciding: Tasks requiring input from stakeholders (e.g., “Finalize budget with Finance”).
Complex: Tasks needing collaborative problem-solving (e.g., “Redesign onboarding workflow”).
Me: Tasks only you can do (keep this list ruthlessly small).
Step Two: Focus Your WIP on Working With Every Category:
Pull work that gets you to share work, to train people, to work with others, and to work alone. Balance your workload and get your ‘martyr fix’ by helping other people be better.
Step Three. Never Stop Collaborating
For every task, ask: “Who else needs to understand this?” Redefine your value from tasks done to people helped. (If that seems the same as Number 2, sit with it a while.)
And Step 4. Conduct a Weekly “Overload Autopsy”
Review tasks that spilled into the next week. Were they truly urgent—or self-inflicted?
The Path Forward
Martyrdom isn’t a badge of honor; it’s a recipe for burnout. By designing systems that prevent overload (like the Kanban framework above), we shift from reactive chaos to intentional flow.
Watch the companion video for a deeper dive into how Martyr WIP creeps into our routines—and how to spot it before it’s too late.
Want more? See the Personal Kanban book. Or Explore Modus Institute’s Personal Kanban Class. Or, if you are feeling like you are ready for the next level, check out our Visual Management Certification to master visual management and humane productivity.
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