[al_borland]

I'm in a similar position at work. I've just decided that what they are asking for is unreasonable, so I just pick whatever I feel is the actual most important thing and work on that during the normal work day. If the company's goals aren't being met, then they need to figure out their actual (realistic) priorities or hire the appropriate number of people to do the work. So far my boss hasn't said anything to me about not doing enough, and from things I've heard him say to others, he wouldn't be shy about it if there was an issue.

I'm also looking to pay down debt (just the mortgage left) as fast as possible so I can feel more comfortable moving to a new job, even if it means less money. I'm giving up some nice-to-haves now so I can have them later without the weight of payments on my shoulders. Having a lower cost of living will allow me to make different decisions on how and where I work. If I do choose to stay at my current job, I suspect I'll feel less trapped in it. I would guess the same would be true for you.

>prioritizing. everything feels so important yet at the end of the day it just feels like I'm spinning my wheels without making much progress on anything

If everything is important, nothing is important. Figuring out your actual priority is key. Then you can actually finish stuff. A lot of people, management especially, love to see progress on everything at once. In reality you will often finish your 3rd priority faster if you don't start on it at all until priority 1 and 2 are finished. I really like this graph to show the cost of context switching when trying to work on everything at once.

https://benjaminspall.com/content/images/size/w1600/2022/05/...

Graph pulled from this article: https://benjaminspall.com/context-switching/

Something like the Eisenhower Matrix might be good to help you prioritize things and figure out what to delegate, what to do yourself, and what to drop completely. I find that 80% of what I'm asked to do ends up not mattering at all after 6 months or so.