Gain Back Your Time and Eliminate Stress
Work, meetings, deadlines, appointments, telephone calls,
shopping, taking the dogs out etc. - all these are things most
people have to accomplish daily. Most of the times, on the
waiting list there are other things like: family, friends and
even ourselves. Sometimes we discover too late that the points
mentioned on the waiting lists are, in fact, the most important
and, unfortunately, sometimes, we don't realize this at all, so
find ourselves wondering for what reason we are so unhappy.
There are different books and seminars that help us find out
what the best option for managing our time is. All these sources
are against enemies and they intend to offer you the best
solutions to eliminate it for good, or at least to reduce it
drastically.
All this people know that time is more than money - time means,
first of all, life and, more than that, it means our lives. That
is way we have the obligation not to surrender in stressful
situations and to go fighting for the joy of living. Let's not
forget also that deficient management of time can produce
tremendous health problems, both at the physical and mental
level.
But there is good news! Time can be domesticated - we can make
it, in certain manner, obey us. First step in implementing this
process is to identify the elements that robe your time.
Normally, they are divided into two groups:
- The external factors (unexpected phone calls, very long phone
conversations, unplanned visits, the policy of open doors, not
sufficiently trained personnel, frequent meetings, interruptions
caused by colleagues, friends and family etc.)
- The internal factors - related strictly to our own persons
(priorities and objectives that change, the lack of a daily
working plan, lack of self imposed deadlines, the tendency to
take care of too many things at the same time, disorder,
lateness in resolving the conflicts, incapacity of saying no,
lack of decision, tiredness).
By reading the above enumeration, you probably pictured recalled
all the similar situations that you went through. Now, all you
have to do is to find a way to defeat and eliminate them, so
that you can be the mater of your own time again. Here are three
possible ways in which you can do that:
- Get used to write everything down. It is useful, especially if
you have a bad memory. Otherwise you might fail to remember to
go to important meetings, to make important phone calls, to
answer messages you promised you would answer. You can also
write down great ideas and inspirations that occur to you in the
most unexpected moments.
- Make a list of priorities. It takes you very little time to
draw it and you can even do it while you're having your morning
coffee. Write down, the things you need to do that day, in the
order of their importance and urgency.
- Learn to say no. One big mistake that a lot of us make is that
we put other people's problems in front of ours. Nevertheless,
by helping them in a bad moment for us, we give rise to
frustration, stress and we find ourselves unable to respect
previous engagements.
All these advices are also present in Jean-Louis
Servan-Schreiber's book New art of time against stress and they
invite us to meditate that more than a weapon against stress,
time management is also a philosophy of life.