Let's say someone walked up to you and asked this question: "If you were to pinpoint the most challenging and annoying thing about your work, what would it be?"
 
What's your answer? A vindictive boss? Maybe. No flextime and long hours? A lot of employees have that problem.
 
But for many more people, they would tell you that the toughest thing they're dealing with on the job today is time management. Or, at least, the lack of time management. They have too much work and not enough time to do it in.
 
That's what a recent survey by Robert Half Management Resources revealed when it asked a bunch of Canadian financial executives that same question. Thirty-two percent said that they had so many work priorities, they couldn't manage their time.
 
As a challenge, this issue ranked higher than other top picks like keeping up with new technology or maintaining work-life balance.
 
As a group, a lot of us are dealing with too much work as companies start ramping up again after the economic downturn. All of those projects that were put on the backburner, are now seeing the light of day.
 
For management, deciding which project is most important can be decided by using logic. Which project is going to save the company the most money? Or make the most money? Or drive new business?
 
But for the rest of us, prioritization is not always so simple. In a lot of cases, it's hard to know which task to handle first - especially when they all seem to be top priority. Without enough clarity from the boss, it's easy to feel like we're drowning in a sea of unfinished jobs, with no end in sight.
 
It feels even worse if we think we can't say no to more work, even if we're already experiencing burnout.
 
But there is something you can do to manage your work instead of allowing it to manage you. Something that goes beyond simply making a list and prioritizing tasks.
 
It's about letting other people - namely your boss - see that list.
 
So if you're starting to feel overwhelmed by work, create a status report that outlines exactly what projects you're working on. You can create a list, a table or a graph. Just make sure the document has enough information to show how much work you're actually doing.
 
Then email it to your manager every week or every month. Or talk to them in person about it. Then you want to ask: What is the top priority? What should I be working on first?
 
By asking the question, you're taking some of the heat off yourself and getting useful information that will help you manage your time better.
 
Plus, now that the boss knows your list is full... hopefully he or she will think twice before adding anything else today.