Time management is the key to lead a structured life when you’re very busy. It gives you super powers, you feel accomplished that you’re able to do so much during the day and still have time to take care of yourself. How many people do you know who are like this? Very few.
So, what is the secret that successful people have that allows them to manage their time, while managing their stress levels and keeping everything in line and in check?
Prioritize
When you say, “I don’t have time for X” then that means that it’s not priority to get it done. It’s something that is further down your list in terms of importance. Knowing your priorities and what is most important to you can help you in organizing your time and reducing your stress because you’ve got a clearer idea of what should and should not be done now.
Find enjoyable moments
Finding joy in what you do and midst your day makes a huge difference when it comes to managing your stress and time. If you’re using public transport to get to work, get a book to read with you or do your assignment in the bus. If you’re driving to work then listen to an audiobook and enjoy the novel or comedy you choose to listen to.
Ditch the complaints
All that complaining does is that it makes you feel miserable and increases your stress level. It has been shown that people tend to overestimate their commitments each week. There are 168 hours per week and even if you sleep for 8 hours and work for 40 hours per week you still have 72 hours to do whatever you want. That’s plenty of time.
Envision your week
Prepare yourself for the upcoming week by taking note of the commitments that you have. Seeing your schedule enables you to figure out the hours for work and recreation and you have something more concrete to work with rather than estimating what time you have or don’t. This plays a great role in reducing stress because you are no longer guessing your work hours and have a definite number to work with.
Key Question
Pretend that it’s the end of the year and you’re looking back to see what you accomplished. What 3-5 things made it a great year for you either for your professional, health or personal life? Evaluate the factors that made your year more successful. Now look at what you wrote and work backwards to see how you can attain that by the end of the current year. This is one of the best techniques for attaining more success. It works and is very effective.
Go old school
Bring a paper and a pen and write down the things that you want to get done during the week. A lot of successful people create a sense of urgency for themselves to do the required tasks. They avoid procrastination like it’s the plague. When you have something to do, launch the task, stay at it until it’s done and then move on after that. You’ll be surprised at how much quicker you’ll finish. You can then scratch that off your list and have one less thing to worry about.
