Project Overload: When "Yes" Turns Into "Hot Mess"

In leadership—especially in management—it’s all too easy to bite off more than your organization can realistically chew. Whether it’s external pressure from the community, the Select Board, or Council, or internal drivers like ambition and impatience, the urge to take on more than you should can lead to serious consequences.

We’re hardwired to say “yes” to people—it feels good to be helpful. But are we really helping?

We’ve all faced the classic interview question: “What’s your greatest weakness?” Some of us may have offered the cheeky response, “I take on too much.” It’s often meant as a humblebrag—proof of dedication and a willingness to go the extra mile. But let’s be honest: when leaders habitually overextend themselves and their organizations, things start falling apart. Overcommitment isn’t a virtue; it’s a cautionary tale.

Let’s take a closer look at what happens when we take on too much:

1. Everyday Tasks Suffer

Stretch your organization too thin, and the routine, behind-the-scenes tasks that keep everything running smoothly start slipping through the cracks. Leaders and staff get so caught up in big projects that core responsibilities are neglected. This leads to a vicious cycle: small problems snowball into bigger ones, more fires to put out, and suddenly, you’re in crisis mode 24/7. Instead of building momentum, you’re constantly scrambling, which drains energy and morale.

2. Staff Burnout

Burnout is already a workplace epidemic, but overloading your team accelerates it. When employees are spread too thin, they’re forced to churn out work that’s “good enough” rather than exceptional.

Over time, frustration builds. People want to take pride in their work, but when they’re given unrealistic expectations and inadequate resources, they end up delivering results they know aren’t their best. Even when they intellectually understand the constraints, the emotional toll of falling short—despite their best efforts—leads to disengagement, dissatisfaction, and, ultimately, burnout.

3. Loss of Community Trust

For leaders, credibility is everything. Taking on too many initiatives makes mistakes inevitable. Deadlines slip, details get overlooked, and projects fall short. And in the public eye, these failures don’t just get chalked up to “bad luck”—they erode trust.

Take, for example, our downtown overhaul in Ashland. We embarked on a massive streetscape redesign, which included undergrounding over half a mile of electrical and telecommunications utilities—a great idea, but poorly timed. We were juggling other major capital projects and still adjusting from COVID-related changes. We hired a well-regarded engineering firm to manage the project, but no one on our staff had the bandwidth to properly oversee them. The result? A six-month project ballooned into two years, with cost overruns, extended detours, and a town frustrated by torn-up streets.

The community doesn’t have much patience for explanations about limited capacity. They see missed deadlines, prolonged inconveniences, and broken promises. And once trust is damaged, rebuilding it is a far steeper climb than simply maintaining it in the first place.

4. Unrealistic Expectations Become the Norm

One of the sneakiest dangers of overcommitment is that it sets an impossible precedent. When leaders constantly take on too much, it creates an unhealthy standard—one where overwork is expected and burnout is the norm.

Even worse, the opportunity cost of each new project gets ignored. Every “yes” to one initiative means saying “no” to something else—often something equally (or more) important. Resources get stretched, priorities become muddled, and even high-impact projects suffer from lack of attention. It’s a recipe for mediocrity at best and outright failure at worst.

The Bottom Line

Taking on too many projects might feel like a testament to ambition and drive, but in reality, it weakens your organization’s efficiency, damages employee morale, and undermines trust in your leadership.

The real challenge of leadership isn’t proving how much you can juggle—it’s knowing what to prioritize. Say “no” when necessary, allocate resources strategically, and set realistic expectations. By focusing on a manageable number of high-impact projects, you’ll set yourself—and your organization—up for long-term success.

After all, isn’t it better to do a few things exceptionally well than to do everything poorly?