For work days that pile up
Overwhelmed at work? What to do in the next 90 seconds
If you're overwhelmed at work, take 90 seconds to settle your body before you touch the next task: a few slow breaths out, one word for how you feel, then one small next step. You can do it at your desk with your eyes open, and nobody needs to know.
By Amanda Perry, founder of Reset Buddy and author of From Burnout to Breakthrough
Updated 29 October 2026
Try it now
A discreet reset: eyes open, no sound
Get ready
3
Press start. You get a 3-second count first.
One round is about 9 seconds. Breathe gently, and stop if you feel dizzy.
A 90-second reset you can do at your desk
Feet flat, shoulders down (10 seconds)
Put both feet on the floor, let your shoulders drop away from your ears and unclench your jaw.
Slow sighs, eyes open (45 to 60 seconds)
Two breaths in through your nose, one long breath out through your mouth. Five rounds is about 45 seconds. If a long sigh feels too obvious, breathe out slowly through your nose.
Name it (10 seconds)
One word for what you feel: swamped, on edge, irritated, flat. In your head is fine.
Write the next small step (20 seconds)
Not the whole to-do list. Just the next small thing, on a sticky note or at the top of a document. Then start it.
The breathing is the physiological sigh. There's more on how to do it, and why it may help, in the physiological sigh guide.
Between meetings
Back-to-back meetings leave no gap for your body to come down from the one before, so the tension from the 9 o'clock walks straight into the 10 o'clock. Give yourself the gap, even if it's only a minute.
Before you join the next call, take three slow sighs, stand up if you can, and look at something far away for a few seconds, like a window or the end of the corridor. Then write one line: what do I need from this next meeting? It helps to go in with one clear thing instead of the leftovers of the last one.
After a hard call
After a tense conversation, the feeling often hangs around and leaks into whatever you do next. Before you move on, breathe out slowly a few times, shake out your hands under the desk, and name what you're feeling: frustrated, embarrassed, worried.
If there's a reply you want to send, draft it, then wait before you press send. A reply written in the first five minutes after a hard call usually reads very differently an hour later.
Before you open your inbox
Opening your inbox is a bit like letting a crowd into the room all at once. Before you do, take 30 seconds: one or two long breaths out, and decide the one thing that matters most today. Write it down.
Then open it, deal with what's truly urgent, and close it again. Checking at set times, rather than all day, keeps the crowd from wandering in every few minutes.
What to do when you're overwhelmed at work: practical steps
- Dump the list. Write every task down, so your head doesn't have to hold them all.
- Sort it fast. Mark what's due today, what can move, and what someone else could do.
- Ask one question. If everything is "urgent", ask your manager which one matters most this week.
- Make one small start. Ten minutes on the hardest thing often makes it feel smaller.
- Take a real break. Scrolling is not a break. A short walk, water or a few minutes outside is.
- Protect the end of the day. Write tomorrow's first small step before you log off, so your mind doesn't keep the day open all evening.
When everything feels too much at once, not only at work, the same idea applies: settle the body, name the feeling, take one small step.
When work overwhelm keeps coming back
If you feel like this most days, a breathing break won't be enough on its own, and that's not a failing on your part. It may be worth talking about workload with your manager, HR or an employee wellbeing programme if your work has one, and seeing your doctor if you're running on empty. You weren't made to run on empty.
For a longer reset when you get home, try the 5-minute nervous system reset.
Keep going
More free tools and guides
- Physiological sighTwo breaths in through the nose, one long breath out. A guided reset in under a minute.
- Box breathing timerIn 4, hold 4, out 4, hold 4. A free guided timer with a square to follow.
- Interactive feelings wheelTap how you feel, find the exact word, then try a reset matched to it.
- 5-minute nervous system resetBreathe, shake it out, ground yourself, take one small step. Guided and free.
- When everything feels too muchA free 90-second reset, then six steps for calming down when you're overwhelmed.
- The science behind the resetsThe published research behind each technique, graded honestly, with its limits.
- Free Right-Now Reset KitSix two-minute resets on one pocket card, sent to your inbox.
A reset for the moment work throws you off.
Reset Buddy is built for exactly these moments. Tap how you feel, breathe with a calm orb, then do one simple activity matched to that feeling, in 2 to 5 minutes, between meetings or after a hard call.
Start your free trial. After that, $4.99 a week, $9.99 a month or $79.99 a year. Cancel any time.