I'd be careful with the "let me show you my lists and you can tell me what to let slide" approach. My boss would say, "I'm paying you to figure that out - why are you asking me to do it for you?"
Been there - done that - it didnt work...
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I'd be careful with the "let me show you my lists and you can tell me what to let slide" approach. My boss would say, "I'm paying you to figure that out - why are you asking me to do it for you?"
Been there - done that - it didnt work...
I can second that opinion. Just today in a meeting with several staff, one of my co-workers made the mistake of saying that he couldn't take on any more projects without letting something slide. My boss's boss gave him a public scolding, told him to work Saturdays or Sundays and be grateful he has a job. It was embarrassing to listen to.
Ya know, that hacks me. In my past, I've been asked to (and agreed to) work 2 full-time positions, including taking on senior management duties in a global org in a different area of professional expertise (simultaneously with being a first-line supervisor in my "real" field of expertise); I've also worked 90+ hours for months at a time. I'm against neither hard work nor long hours when needed. In both these cases, the need was real. (Gulf war.) Important things got done; less important things got done when possible. And in both cases, management was very reasonable about less-necessary things slipping.
In these cases, II'd acknowledged the working assumption was a not-completely-insane boss. At least we now have evidence supporting the idea that the assumption of common sense and decency was weak... :x
So, my second set of recommendations:
1) Project: "Find new job" (I'm not being flip; marketability is your best defense)
2) Project: "Buy and read James Loehrer's 'Stress for Success'" (Again, not being flip. This is one of the 3 best books on stress out there; the other two are "Margin" and "Overload Syndrome" by Richard Swensen, but they won't help you as much in the heat of this particular battle.)
'Luck.
I think that *if you are working for a reasonable boss* there are better ways to approach this, than "what can I let slide?" which is somewhat confrontational. Asking for further information like:
- Is this urgent? What is our deadline?
- I am working on xyz. Can I finish that first, or is this more important?
- As soon as I do xyz, I will get onto that.
- When are you meeting with abc?
- If I get it done at x:00 will you have time to review it?
Pam
I'll be more precise next time. "Let slide" was intended to be an amorphous catch all for your far more helpful specific phrases.