Stress is a part of most people's lives, but sometimes it can become quite overwhelming. Luckily, setting some priorities can be a very effective way to minimise and manage stress. Read on to learn more.
Time Management and Stress
Effective time management is one of the best ways to beat stress, but one that many people ignore or fail to perform well. If you are constantly feeling harried, anxious and stressed about everything you have to do in your daily life, then the chances are that poor time management is causing at least part of your problem.
People with poor time management skills are likely to wake up to an alarm clock and plunge into their day, often without any clear sense of what they are doing, or in what order. However, people with good time management skills are more likely to use the first 30 minutes to an hour of their day for relaxation and reflection, as they already have a plan for what they are going to achieve, and when.
A leisurely cup of tea, listening to music, or quiet reflection is not a waste of time. It becomes a part of the person's schedule, and doing these things actually makes it easier for them to cope with the stress that the rest of the day brings.
How Good Time Management Helps Reduce Stress
To improve your time management and reduce your stress levels, make a list of your priorities, set goals, and break them down into activities you need to do in order to achieve them. A daily schedule allows you to avoid unnecessary stress since you can take your time with each task rather than rush or panic. This task can be completed 100% without worrying about the nagging voice in your head telling you to hurry up as you have something else to do.
People get stressed out because they try to do too many things at the same time, even if it means that nothing is actually finished. Work out what your personal concerns are and align your list to meet that.
Also use tools to help manage your time. Use a daily planner, with time being allotted to each specific task that you wish to achieve. Remember to allocate time generously – do not underestimate how long a given task may take to achieve. This planner could be in your diary, on your phone, or hastily written down. The point is to have it somewhere where you can easily refer to it to keep yourself on track.
If you let yourself become overwhelmed by everything, nothing gets done properly and deadlines will always be missed. If you break things down into separate actions and activities - even if these are small - it's easier to see how much you have actually done as opposed to how much is still left to do. Studies show people who maintain a good time management plan find themselves eating healthier food as they save time for themselves through better planning. So, don't just beat stress, feel healthier too with a well-planned daily schedule.
Signs of Poor Time Management Skills
Pushing yourself too hard to get too much done in one day could be a source of stress. If you are moving from task to task throughout the day and trying to find more hours for everything on your never-ending "to do" list, your time management needs some work. A healthy diet, regular exercise, and adequate sleep are all essential to a work-life balance. If you've been eating fast food and experiencing poor sleep quality because of your daily tasks, this could compromise your physical, mental and emotional health. Other signs of poor time management are:
- Missing deadlines
- Being late for appointments or meetings
- Difficulty prioritising tasks
- Overestimating the amount of time necessary to complete a task
- Underestimating actual time spent on a task
Tips on Prioritising to Beat Stress
There are several tips on how to improve your time management skills and beat stress. Here are some of the best ones:
Source: Atlantic Training
- First identify the thing that is stressing you out. Once you know what this is, you can then plan a way or ways to overcome it.
- Learn how to say no. You do not have to commit to doing everything that is asked of you. Only say yes to things that you want to achieve or can reasonably achieve in a given time frame.
- Beat procrastination! This can be done by breaking tasks into smaller, more manageable tasks, using a diary to schedule tasks, and also by setting yourself short-term deadlines and rewarding yourself in some way when you have met all your goals (not just one of them!).
- Record how you spend your time. Include work, family time and leisure and see if there is a drastic imbalance between any of these elements.
- Schedule time for yourself. Take breaks of about 15-20 minutes to recharge. This allows the effects of stress to subside before you resume work.
- Delegate work to other people where practical.
- Prioritise your time by rating tasks, placing urgent tasks at the top of your list.
- Schedule tasks according to your own energy levels. For example, if you are most mentally alert in the morning, do the difficult mental tasks then. If you feel active in the evenings, make that your exercise time. Doing activities when they feel right means that you will be more productive and achieve a lot more.
- A schedule that doesn't work for you may need to be tweaked a little to keep things running smoothly and eliminate daily stress. Time efficiency does not mean following your original schedule, even if it doesn't work.
- Take advantage of technology apps that can help you create your own schedule and stick with it. Among the most useful apps that can help you stay organised even in stressful situations are Evernote and Google Calendar.
Good time management means less stress and more productivity. Working on decluttering your schedule by starting with the things that take up most of your time, such as work or school, is no doubt an effective stress management strategy.
Originally published on Sep 14, 2008
