You Can be Great If You Really Want To

Time management and stress management—is there a relationship? Lack of time may not be the only thing that creates stress for people, but it certainly ranks as one of the highest in its frequency of occurrences. Also consider another situation where stress and time are related, but not due to lack of time. Here the stress stems from simply procrastinating, even when time is available. And…if you procrastinate on enough matters, then lack of time comes back into play again.

There is an old saying that eating a live frog first thing every morning will usually make the rest of the day seem pretty easy. That frog is your biggest project- the one that will produce the results that lead to your goals. It also tends to be the one on which you are most likely to procrastinate.

Summer months are a time that people often schedule projects. Sometimes the change of pace during this season leads people to plan catch-up days both at the office and at home. In some geographical locations it is because it is too hot to be outdoors, and in other cases it might be because work slows down during this period. Think back to your past summer:

Did you have plans to work on tasks that you had been postponing until this time?
Did you plan on someone else getting things done during these month?
Were the chores that you had hoped to get done actually completed?
If not, why?

If you had jobs scheduled and did not get them done, could procrastination be an issue? It is easy to always blame lack of time, but the truth is that you often have times when you could be working on those delayed tasks and you simply put them off.

Examine some of the reasons why people procrastinate.

There is no sense of urgency.
When a task does not come with a deadline, it can be easy to postpone, but that item will still nag at you. You start feeling guilty about not getting enough done, and the accumulation of incomplete activities in turn ends up adding to your daily stress.

Solution: Think of positive outcomes and set your own deadline.

You do not know where to begin.
The project is so large and detailed that you do not have a clear picture of the processes. It might have been fairly simple at the beginning but, by delaying, the project has now become overwhelming.

Solution: Write down, in order, the steps that need to be taken. You are more likely to tackle a small task than commit to a large block of time. Be sure to schedule each of the steps on your calendar.

It is not where your interests or skill levels lie.
You may dislike the chore, like filing or yard work, or it could be a project that you do not know how to do and have no interest in learning. You stall for days or weeks. Then when you finally have no choice, it is even worse than you expected.

Solution: Can you hire someone, or trade services? When you are interested in the work, you are certainly more efficient in accomplishing that task. If it is something you hate to do, try to find an alternative rather than allowing it to loom.

Do not let that frog get away for the day. Instead, leap right in, deal with the frog early in the morning and then jump to the next task. After all, eating that frog is often the means of providing you with your bread and butter.

©2006, Key Organization Systems, Inc., All Rights Reserved

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Everyone has a goal or two that they would like to achieve. These goals may be short term or long term. Unfortunately, not all of these goals are easily fulfilled. More often than not, people find themselves sidetracked by other things. This is why personal goal setting techniques are so important. They help keep you on track.

Everyone can benefit from practicing personal goal setting techniques. Here are some examples of these techniques.

1) List Down Your Goals.

The first thing you have to do is to list down your goals. Write them down on a piece of paper and hang that list up someplace where you can see it. Or if you’re always using your laptop, why don’t you create a desktop wallpaper that lists down all your personal goals?

This is like forming a pact with yourself and telling yourself that you are committed to your goals. Creating an actual physical list also prevents you from just forgetting about your goals as time passes by.

2) Keep Your Goals Reasonable.

When learning personal goal setting techniques, remember to keep your goals reasonable. Make sure they are specific and measurable.

Just saying that you want to lose weight after a few months is not an effective goal at all. You must also indicate how much weight you intend to lose and exactly how long you have to complete that goal.

Writing down specific goals is more motivating than goals with no real deadline in sight. The concept works a lot like the concept for avoiding procrastination. Unless you give yourself a deadline, you’ll only keep putting that goal off for another month or even year. By the time you realize what you’ve been doing, more than six months have passed.

3) Visualize Fulfilling Your Goals.

One of the most effective personal goal setting techniques is visualizing yourself actually fulfilling your goals. Never underestimate the power of your mind.

For example, if your goal is to lose x weight in six months, visualizing yourself looking slimmer everyday will definitely help you stay on track. Visualization also entices you to be disciplined.

These personal goal setting techniques are very helpful for both experienced and first-time goal setters. However, the most important factor when it comes to goal setting is your own determination to succeed. Unless you take this whole process seriously, you’re going to end up with a large pile of unfulfilled dreams.

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This article has been modified and was written by Elizabeth Scott and discusses the connection between stress management and time. So often we feel stressed when we don’t have sufficient time to do our tasks. Below are some key points that will help with your stress management ability in relation to the pressure you experience in managing your time.

It’s OK To Say No: Many people end up overscheduling themselves because they feel uncomfortable saying “no” when people ask things of them. This may be because they don’t want to admit to themselves that they can’t “do it all,” or perhaps because they don’t want to disappoint others. Unfortunately, they ultimately disappoint themselves by not having enough time to do what’s important to them. Does this apply to you? If so, learning to say no might be a good stress management priority.

Be Clear On Your Priorities: Others become overscheduled because they add activities to their schedules for the wrong reasons, and end up spending their days doing things that don’t reflect their values and priorities. Then they find themselves struggling to fit in what’s important to them. Necessities like adequate sleep and other healthy habits fall by the wayside. Is this you? To find out, make a list of what’s most important to you. List things like family, friends and career. Then look at how you spend your days. See how much time goes to these things. Is it a good match, or are you spending an inordinate amount of time doing things that aren’t as important to you? Remember it’s never too late to make changes to improve your stress management!

Map It Out: A common stress management trap many people fall into is that they don’t know where their time goes, or they overestimate the amount of time they have available and underestimate the amount of time each activity takes to complete, and become overcommitted. How many times have you found yourself adding new activities to your schedule when you don’t really know how you’ll find the time to do them? If you remember several such instances, you may need to keep a careful schedule, writing down everything you do. Don’t agree to new activities until you’ve found a way to pencil them in, overestimating the amount of time you think it will take to complete them.

Manage Money Wisely: It’s become increasingly common for people to work more than they’d like because finances demand it. Many people are working longer hours and even more than one job. Do you find that you’re working hard to pay the bills, and when you’re not working, you’re still worrying about money? Do you know where your money goes? To get out from under debt and financial woes, you need a plan that involves spending less, saving, paying off debt, and possibly earning more (not by working more but by getting paid what you’re worth). In doing so you not only will feel more relief and in control but will also take a crucial step in improving your stress management.

Stay Organized: Stress management often gets derailed when we are disorganised. In addition to keeping an organized schedule, as mentioned above, it’s important to maintain an organised home. Most people don’t realize how much time and money are sucked up (not to mention stress created) by living in an environment where things are difficult to find and relaxation is a challenge. Staying organised can help you to stop the drain on your time that a messy home can create.

To Thine Own Self Be True: Knowing yourself well can also help you to avoid getting overwhelmed. How? For one thing, by knowing your limitations, you avoid taking on too much. For example, if you know you’re not the best manager of people, you can avoid putting yourself in a position where you’ll be asked to do management-type tasks, saving yourself stress and the extra time and energy it would take to learn to do this better. Also, if you constantly put yourself in a position of taking on more than you can handle, take an honest look inward to help you figure out what’s behind this. That way, you can stop.

It is important on your journey to improve your stress management that you commit to putting the newly acquired techniques into action. Choose 2 stress management techniques from those listed above and make them a habit but doing them everyday for 21 days. After this time period it will be integrated into your activities and will help to further improve your wellbeing and feelings of stress.