We live in a world where everything seems to move fast; the cars, our phones, our computers, the company, the flights and even children. Today, people take prestige in being the youngest one to do something, the youngest millionaire, youngest president, youngest CEO among others. To many people, coping with this fast- paced life is a source of stress. Everything seems to move faster, you are feeling left out, you never seem to catch-up and this introduces an element of stress in your life. In this post, let’s talk about Ways to Deal with Stress with a special focus on time management.
Time management is one of the best ways to deal with stress. American Physiologist association define stress as a feeling that occurs when you feel you have no control over what happens to you; There is much to be done and little time to accomplish them. Therefore, to answer the question what is stress management? We are concerned with techniques and tools that can help you seize the control of your life. Thus, time management allows you to control how you spend your time, what should be done, what time and for how long. Think about this for a minute; a CEO running one some of the most successful companies seems to have time for everything, to pick their kids from school, call his wife from work, have fun with his friends and still keep the company profitable. As a junior executive, you don’t seem to have time to return your mother’s call, why is that? There is one explanation for this, time management.
Plan for the day
One of the most effective ways to deal with stress is planning for your day. From the time you get out of bed to the time you retire in the evening, every hour, minute and second should be planned for. This entails outlining all activities that need to be done during the day if possible keep a diary. Indicate start and finish time and strive to finish the activity within the stipulated time. When you plan your day, you will be at the right place at the right time doing the right thing and this is the first step among the ways to deal with stress.
Distinguish between urgent and important task
Making this distinction is not only one of the good ways to deal with stress but also a good way to deal with issues as they come. Urgent things require your attention immediately, but failure to do them might not have serious consequences. Important things matter and not doing them might have serious consequences. For instance, handing in your report on time is important; returning a call to a sales representative might be urgent but not important. Once you make this distinction, you won’t have to worry about stress.
Prioritizing as one of the healthy ways to deal with stress requires you to make this distinction. What task requires your attention urgently? Which task is important but can wait? This is basically what setting priorities is all about. If you have to pick your kids from school, and have a dentist appointment, which one would you pick? Stress occurs when you don’t set your priorities right, like if you pick going for a date over picking your kids from school. Thus, time manage as a tool of stress management is important when setting priorities.
Procrastination
An American scholar once said that Procrastination is the foundation of all disasters and stress is the major one. We pointed out earlier that one of the positive ways to deal with stress is planning, but what happens to those activities that look like they can be postponed? A study conducted by DePaul University indicates that people who procrastinate have a high- stress level and lower well-being. Further, a survey by H&R Block, one of the leading tax consultant firms indicates that companies lose thousands of dollars trying to beat April 15th tax dateline. Procrastination is contagious, when you fail to meet your dateline, someone else is forced to extend their dateline and the whole system ends up delaying because of one person, and this is a major cause of stress at work. Truth is, at some point, procrastinating is inevitable, like if you have 13 things to do, you might be forced to potstone three because of time, but if you find yourself reshuffling the tasks to complete the simple ones first, then you are procrastinating.
As a tool of stress management, how resourceful is time management in dealing with this problem? You need to understand your most productive time of the day and schedule the difficult task during that time. For instance, if you are an accountant, you can consider doing your ledger entries first thing in the morning before fatigue sets in. However, remember you must respond to some urgent emails as they come, so how do you strike a balance?
Personal matters
Employers expect you to leave your personal matters at home but truth is it’s hard to concentrate when you have a pressing matter. People tend to get stressed, anxious or frustrated when they have pressing matters and no time to handle them. Thus, as a tool of stress management, time management can enable you to schedule to handle such issues. There is no way of dealing with stress and anxiety if you have a nagging issue on your head. Thus, deal with that nagging issue first thing in the morning. Whether it is a doctor’s appointment, going to the bank or calling your kids teacher, getting it done will free you so you can accomplish more as the day progresses.
These are some of the ways to deal with stress and depression that you face every day. Stress is inevitable in life; the best way to deal with it is proper planning. Thus, time management although not the only way to deal with stress ranks top in the list of 10 positive ways to deal with stress.